Sides of a Storm
by punkerbones
Summary: Shortly before the Fallen arrives to Earth, an old high school friend of Sam's follows him and the Autobots through the battles between the Autobots and Decepticons on Earth.
1. Chapter 1

He had helped save the world from alien robots that had been hell-bent on destroying Earth and turning its denizens into ash. His car, which appeared to be a sleek, yellow and black Camaro, was an alien robot warrior that could transform at will. He had faced down the leader of the Decepticons and lived.

And yet a simple Computer Science course threatened to be the end of him yet.

Sam sighed and looked over through the tattered book for his CS 110 class. The pages were frayed and there were highlighter marks all throughout the pages, but, one, used books were cheaper, and two, most of the answers had already been highlighted.

In the other room, Sam could hear Leo talking excitedly with his two cohorts about the alien robots that were still on Earth and the problems that this "Robowarrior" guy was giving them. Grumbling under his breath, Sam furiously flipped through the pages and wondered if he could get in trouble for getting help on his Computer Science homework from a being that had a computer for a brain.

"Still working on the Computer Science homework, bro?" Leo called from the makeshift computer lab.

"Yeah...I think I'm gonna' ask Sophie for help."

"Sophie?" There was a pause and then Leo poked his head around the doorframe. "You mean Sophie Anderson? The chick with the lip piercing and skateboard?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sam replied quickly, shutting the book and grabbing his cellphone. "She and I used to go to high school together. She's a complete computer whiz. I'm surprised you don't have her working overtime with you guys."

"Yeah, she's a complete computer whiz...and a complete and utter hermit! Dude, she never leaves her dorm. She's like the Gollum of computer nerds."

"She's not that bad," Sam retorted, pulling on a jacket. "She just keeps to herself is all."

"You're funeral, man, and I'm not sending in a rescue party if she decides to try and devour your soul or something."

()

Walking briskly down the dorm hallway, cradling his Computer Science book under his arm, Sam felt a small grin work on his face. Mikaela had texted him this morning, wishing him a good day at school and telling him that she already missed him. Sam missed her, too. He'd wanted to bring her with him to college, but she had refused him each time, and each time she explained the same refrain that she had to help her father out. And while Sam understood, it didn't make her being thousands of miles away any easier.

As he jogged across the lush, green grass of one of the campus's yards to the adjacent dormitory building, Sam wondered if Sophie would even remember him. They'd been good enough friends, but Sophie had kept to herself, immersing herself in computers and networking while Sam was out saving the world.

When he found out that they were going to the same college, Sam had tried to do what he thought was the "friend" thing to do and texted her to find out how she was doing and the like. Currently, he'd received three texts from her, and they had all consisted of less than three sentences.

At least one of them had been her dorm room number.

Sam knocked on the door, but mid-way through the third knock, the door swung open and Sam found himself being glared down by his former high school classmate.

"Uh, hey," he said, waving weakly.

"Do I know you?" Sophie hissed, her nose already scrunching up.

"Uh...S-Sam...Sam Witwicky. We went to high school together, remember?"

"Right." Sophie started to slam the door shut, but paused, then opened the door so that she was looking at Sam. "Wait...Witwicky?"

Sam nodded slowly. There was something else he'd forgotten about Sophie. Coupled with her hair trigger temper was Sophie's love for rugby and her penchant for practicing tackles off the field. While Sam was halfway certain he could outrun Sophie, he didn't want to test it.

Sophie studied Sam for a few minutes, then jerked her head slightly, motioning for him to come in. She shut the door behind him and walked over to her computer, quickly minimizing the windows she'd had open on the monitor.

"What do you want?" she asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Um, you know how you said that if I needed help with my computer homework to ask you?"

Sophie paused and turned around. She stared at Sam with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms. Her hair looked like it'd been cut with a lawnmower, and there was about an inch of dark roots showing, while the rest was bleached blonde. A silver ring rested on the left side of her lower lip, and a pair of sharp green eyes watched Sam closely.

"I didn't say that," Sophie retorted. "If you really were Sam Witwicky, you'd know I don't offer my help out like that."

"Yeah, you did," Sam replied quickly. "Remember? Right before we graduated."

There was a pause, then Sophie grinned faintly.

"Oh yeah, I did, huh? I felt sorry for you because you'd gotten pummeled by those football players, yeah?"

Sam was silent, but the expression on his face said it all. Sophie grabbed her rolling computer chair and rolled it to the edge of the bed, where Sam was already seated.

"Well, what're you having trouble with?"

"Programming, mostly."

"Wait...I thought you said you wanted to do something in Political Sciences or what have you?" Sophie looked down at the book, then back up at Sam.

"Prerequisites."

Grumbling something under her breath about the college campus trying to bleed the students dry, Sophie picked up the tattered book and began leafing through it.

()

The hangar was practically alive as the large C-5 Galaxies were being loaded with pallets of supplies. Decepticons had been spotted in Shanghai, and N.E.S.T. and the Autobots were moving in to neutralize the Decepticon threat before it got any worse.

Major Lennox peered down the sight of the modified M16. The rifle had been augmented to fire high impact rounds that would, supposedly, penetrate the metallic hide of a Decepticon. Lennox wasn't overly hopeful. He'd seen Decepticons brush off heavy artillery fire as though it were little more than a tickle.

A loud crash rattled through the hangar, quickly followed by two arguing voices, and Lennox looked up to see Mudflap and Skids snapping at each other and trying to hit the other with pieces of scrap metal that they had managed to procure. They were arguing about something about being an ice cream van, but they were talking too fast for Lennox to properly make out what they were saying.

"Hey, where's Prime?" Mudflap yelled, looking over at Lennox.

The soldier glanced around, but didn't have time to answer. Skids took advantage of the situation and shoved Mudflap out of the way, interrupting the two.

"Yeah, we wanna' know why we gotta' be some scrawny ice cream truck."

"Well-" That was as far as Lennox got.

"Yeah, why aren't we able to get something faster?"

"Because," Ironhide interjected walking over to the twins. "if you two little punks went any faster, we might mistake you for annoying little gnats and blast you both."

"Hey, hey...we're just asking. Ice cream truck sounds good, though."

The twins backed down and Ironhide rolled his optics and glanced down at Lennox. The battle-hardened Autobot swore he could hear Lennox's faith in Autobot intelligence dropping as he watched the twins bicker even further.

"Do they ever stop arguing?" Lennox asked with a grin.

Shaking his head, Ironhide turned to Optimus Prime, who had just entered the hangar. The Autobot leader regarded the arguing twins with a quick glance, then turned to Ironhide, who's narrow-eyed expression said everything.

"Do we have to take them with us, Prime?" Ironhide grumbled.

"The Decepticon readings were numerous," Optimus answered. "As frustrating as they may be at times, their assistance will be invaluable."

Ironhide gave Optimus a disbelieving look, but said nothing. The weapons specialist turned to Sideswipe, who was darting back and forth. The smaller Autobot may have lacked brute strength like some of the other Autobots, but whatever he lacked he made up for in speed...and vanity.

The overhead speaker suddenly clicked on, ordering the Autobots to board the transporter jet. They were heading to Shanghai.


	2. Chapter 2

The jet ride was fortunately smooth enough, with little turbulence, and, aside from the N.E.S.T. soldiers idle chit chat, quiet.

Lennox glanced around at the soldiers, saying a mental prayer that they all made it through the fight. He had seen what Decepticons could do. They weren't just killers, they were merciless, ruthless cold-blooded killing machines. The Autobots worked to spare human lives, while the Decepticons seemed to take great pride and pleasure in ending them.

Inside the second C-5, Ironhide and Sideswipe were chained down to the floor of the plane to keep them from rolling around during any turns. While Lennox wondered if it was even necessary, it seemed to help, so he didn't ask.

"Sir?"

Lennox turned to the soldier who had spoken up. The man was one of the raw recruits, straight from training to the N.E.S.T. team. The N.E.S.T. emblem was proudly worn on one sleeve, while the other was completely bare. He was struggling to keep his composure, but Lennox could see the nervousness that was threatening to break the soldier's stoic look. Nodding at the recruit, Lennox shifted his weight from one leg to the other as the plane did a gentle turn to the right.

"These Decepticons...how many are we looking at?"

"At least two confirmed, possibly more. That's why we're bringing our own 'bots to the playing field." Lennox grinned and motioned to where Ironhide and Sideswipe were. The soldier looked at the vehicles, then at Lennox, then leaned back in his seat with a heavy sigh. While Lennox was a bit irritated that the soldier seemed to have missed details in the debriefing, he couldn't be angry for the fact that the soldier was nervous. In truth, he was probably just as nervous, he was just better at hiding it.

At the sound of the overhead speaker announcing they were entering the airspace of Shanghai, Lennox took a deep breath and focused. He looked up at the soldiers, who were already looking at him with a mix of determination and uneasiness.

"All right, guys," Lennox said in a raised voice, masking the apprehension, "this is what we trained for. You know who we're after. It's time to go Decepticon hunting."

()

After about forty-five minutes of Sophie trying to explain the basics of programming to Sam, he realized that while she was still speaking English, he hadn't understood a word she'd said. Given the exasperated look on Sophie's face, Sam could safely guess that she was realizing this, too.

"What are you even doing programming for, anyways?" Sophie muttered, staring at the book with all the love she would have for a dead rat. "I thought this was a CS 110 class."

"It is," Sam replied, his shoulder slumping. "The professor is a sick, twisted, demented monster in human form."

"Oh...well, that explains a lot." Sophie blinked a few times then appeared lost in thought. Turning to look at Sam, she cocked her head to one side slightly. "Should we call in the exorcists?"

"I dunno'," Sam answered, "He might actually be resistant to them."

"Hmmm…exorcists with baseball bats?"

Sam stared at Sophie for a few minutes, but the bleach blonde girl was too busy flipping through the pages of the CS book to notice.

"You really have a penchant for violence, don't you?" Sam finally asked.

"Not really," Sophie said slowly, never lifting her gaze. "I just have a bad temper."

Nodding his head slightly, Sam sighed at looked down at the book.

"I'm not passing this class, huh?"

"Oh, trust me, you're passing the class. You're passing the class if I have to drag you kicking and screaming."

The thought of Sophie dragging him kicking and screaming down the hallway to his Computer Science class reminded Sam that Leo had managed to rope him into going into some sort of party this evening. While Sam still wasn't sure how he had agreed to go to the party, he knew he was going.

Then a thought crossed his mind.

"Hey, you want to go to a party?" Sam inquired suddenly, looking at Sophie.

There was a long pause and then Sophie burst into a fit of giggles, clutching at her sides and biting her bottom lip. For a few seconds, it was sort of amusing, but then, when she kept laughing, Sam crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. Sophie finally calmed down enough that she looked at Sam and gave him a slightly surprised look, still biting at her bottom lip and a few snickers escaping her.

"Oh…oh you were serious?" Sophie asked, gasping to catch her breath.

"Yeah, yeah I am. I'm supposed to go with my roommate, but ten bucks says he leaves me to fly solo and I've no interest in really going."

"So why go?"

"Because he asked me to."

"So tell him 'no,'" Sophie said, clambering off the bed and looking around the disaster area that was her dorm room. She froze and gave Sam a narrow-eyed glare. "This isn't a date, is it?"

"What? No! No! Not at all," Sam scoffed. "Besides, I've got a girlfriend."

"Please don't tell me you're still with that Mikaela chick," Sophie grumbled, looking under the bed.

"Why don't you like her? What did she ever do to you?"

"Well, for one, she acts like Wonder Woman even though I'm pretty sure if you throw a ping pong ball at her hard enough she'd fall over. And two, well, she knows how to hotwire vehicles. I don't."

"So you're jealous. Is that it?"

"No, I'm afraid she'll steal my car." Sophie stopped, then stood up, grinning at Sam. "Do you still have that bitching Camaro? You know, the yellow one with black stripes?"

Bumblebee.

Sam sighed inwardly. He missed his friend. And while he didn't have choice, since the college campus forbid first-year students from having vehicles, he still felt bad about leaving Bumblebee behind.

"Yeah, but I had to leave it at my parents."

"Awww," Sophie looked crestfallen. "But that's a cool car. Couldn't you sneak it in? How do you know your parents aren't out doing doughnuts or dragging main in it?"

The thought of his parents going a mere 5mph in a school zone while riding in Bumblebee was funny, so the idea of his parents doing doughnuts in some abandoned parking lot with the Autobot warrior was pure hilarity. Sam had to suppress a laugh.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure that they're leaving the car alone enough."

"I don't know, man, I-hey! My shoes!" Sophie quickly bent over and produced a pair of heavily worn combat boots. "Fine. I'll go to this party, simply because you're bound to get yourself in trouble. …that and there's prolly gonna' be free alcohol."

Sam immediately regretted having ever invited Sophie. A drunken, bad-tempered rugby player trying to start a fight with frat boys. The place would look like a warzone afterwards.

()

The construction site turned warzone was utterly destroyed. The recent battlefield still smoldered with ash and smoke, and the soldiers worked to help carry the injured or dead back to the transport vehicles. Optimus glanced over as two of the soldiers helped a wounded comrade limp to a waiting jeep, but his thoughts were mulling over the cryptic warning of the Decepticon they had just killed.

The Fallen.

Frowning, Optimus glared down at Decepticon's corpse. While the message had been cryptic enough, Optimus knew that whatever it was the Decepticons were preparing for, it would put even more strain on the already shaky alliance that the Autobots had with the humans. It was both frustrating and disheartening, that as things got worse, that was when it seemed that communication and cooperation broke down.

"You're awfully quiet."

Turning, Optimus looked at Ironhide, still halfway lost in thought. Ironhide kept quiet, recognizing the expression that Optimus currently had.

"I need to speak with Sam," Optimus answered, walking back to where N.E.S.T. had designated the landing area for the C-5s.

"The boy?" Ironhide queried, sounding surprised. "What for?"

"I fear that things are about to get difficult between the Autobots and the humans," Optimus replied, gazing out at the Shanghai skyline. "Sam has worked with the Autobots before, he knows that we are trying to help the human race. We are going to need his help in convincing the humans, and their governments, of that fact."

Snorting slightly, Ironhide looked back to where the C-5s were landing. Personally, he thought if the humans were going to be so stubborn in their beliefs that the Autobots were a threat, then perhaps the humans should be left to see how well they liked facing down the Decepticons alone. However, Prime was insistent that the humans needed their help, and Ironhide wasn't about to argue.

"All right, gentlemen," Lennox called out, walking up to the two Autobots, "We're packing up and shipping out. If we're lucky we'll be back to base in time for lunch."

"So long as you're not cooking, Major, I'll call it good."

Lennox grinned faintly and looked over his shoulder. The recruit had made it through the firefight, albeit he was a bit bruised and bloodied, he was still walking and managing a smile, which was more than Lennox could say for some of the soldiers.

Ironhide still didn't understand the humans' fascination with insulting each other's ability to cook. It seemed rather infantile to him, but it kept the humans in good enough spirits, in some strange way.


	3. Chapter 3

()

Six shots of some fruit-flavored vodka and Sophie was just starting to feel her nose tingle. Grinning toothily, she looked around the room, completely unable to hear a thing thanks to the blaring music. Off to the right, at where Sophie could only assume had been designated the "dance floor," Leo was having some sort of disco spaz attack…and right past him was somebody videotaping the whole thing on their cell phone. Finally spying Sam, Sophie started to yell at him, until she saw him rapidly carving some sort of symbol into the cake.

As buzzed as she may have been, Sophie still had enough sense to be concerned that Sam had somehow gotten a hold of a drink with a few added ingredients, and she immediately began pushing her way through the crowd to get to Sam. By the time she got there, however, some skinny, blonde-haired girl appeared to be going into the first few minutes of giving Sam a lap dance.

"Whoa, whoa! Barbie! He's taken!" Sophie shouted. She grabbed the girl's shoulder and almost instantly regretted the action. As much as the girl appeared to be in desperate need of a cheeseburger, she had an incredibly strong grip, and Sophie immediately fell to her knees, feeling the bones in her wrist begin to creak.

Noticing Sophie's panicked expression, Sam gave the blonde-haired girl a nervous grin, trying to figure out how he could get her away from him and break the apparently painful grip she had on Sophie's wrist.

Fortunately, at that point, two of the frat boys came into the room, managing to yell over the music.

"Hey! Whose car is that outside?"

Taking advantage of the girl being distracted, Sam pushed her away slightly and managed to get past her. Almost instantly she released the crushing hold she had on Sophie's wrist. Hissing a cuss word under her breath, Sophie staggered to her feet and followed Sam outside. When she got there, Sam was yelling at his car. Blinking and wondering if she'd lost her tolerance for alcohol over the years, Sophie stumbled to the car, then looked at Sam.

"Is this your car?" Sophie asked in bewilderment.

"Yeah, is this your car?" One of the frat boys looked a little more than miffed that the car had gone over the sidewalk and into the shrubbery.

"It is, look, I am so sorry. I'll get it out of here immediately," Sam said, quickly clambering in the car.

At the sight of the Barbie girl with the death grip of doom getting into the passenger seat, Sophie did her best Nascar driver impression and darted for the car, fumbling at the driver's side rear door and managing to sneak in as Sam backed the car out into the driveway.

"Nice car," the girl purred.

As sickening as the blonde-haired girl's voice was, Sophie reminded herself that puking in such an awesome car was probably grounds for being reincarnated as a gym teacher. She peeked over the driver's side seat.

"Hey, Saaaaam," she whispered. "Where're we goin'?"

The blonde-haired girl shot icy daggers at Sophie, causing her to immediately back down. Muttering under her breath, Sophie sat back in the seat, fumbling for her cell phone. She couldn't hear what Sam and the girl were talking about, but suddenly the radio blared out "You're Cheatin' Heart," almost giving Sophie a heart attack. Clapping her hands against her ears, Sophie kicked the back of the seat.

"Somebody kill the DJ, already!"

Just as she was about to ask when Sam had last had the car in a mechanic's shop, some sort of gelatinous liquid spewed out onto the Barbie girl of the Death Grip clan.

With a short yelp, Sophie ducked behind the driver's seat, covering her head and managing to escape the main jet of goo. The blonde-haired girl, however, was not so lucky. Shrieking and flailing around, she tried to cover her face, even though it was a losing battle. Sam, meanwhile, appeared to be both yelling at the car and shouting apologies to the unfortunate blonde, and finally the car came to a sudden stop.

Looking like the long-lost daughter of Slimer, the blonde-haired girl stormed out of the car, giving Sam a weird look before stalking off into the dark. Blinking wide eyes, Sophie slowly uncurled from her fetal position in the seat of the car, then leaned over the driver's seat and whispered at Sam.

"Dude…what the hell was that?"

Sam started to answer, then winced and coughed, holding his nose.

"Jeez, how much did you have to drink? You smell like half of Russia's breweries."

"Screw you. Just drive." Sophie looked around. "Um, Sam…where are we going?"

"Just…just a drive, you know. Gotta' get fresh air and everything," Sam replied quickly.

Sophie stopped, seemed to think about the idea, then looked alarmed.

"Wait…a drive? Like the way the Mafia gives drives?"

Leaning away from his inebriated friend, Sam laughed shortly and drummed his hands lightly against the steering wheel.

"No, but I'm not exactly overly eager to go back to the dorms. I'm pretty sure Leo is less than thrilled about me bailing on him."

"I saw him dancing. The only thing he's going to have to worry about is any evidence of said dancing making it to YouTube." Sophie paused, tapping a finger against her lip, then peeked over the driver's seat. "Sooo…you wanna' tell me what the hell possessed your car to make that blonde bimbo a used squeegee?"

"Uh, it's got a couple of kinks I'm still trying to work out." Sam hit the dashboard lightly with his fist a couple of times. While he was fairly certain that Sophie was well aware of the fact that Autobots and Decepticons existed, as would anybody else who watched YouTube, he wasn't sure how well she would react to the idea of being carted around in one.

"Hey! Don't hit the car! You have to be nice to the car," Sophie gently ran a hand across the back seat. "Otherwise, you might be the next squeegee."

The radio crackled on, and Green Day's "She's a Rebel" began playing over the speakers. Sam rolled his eyes and gave the console an exasperated look. Sophie grinned and fell back into the seat, humming along with the music.

"Don't give her any ideas, Bee," he muttered under his breath.

"What was 'zat?" Sophie yelled from the back. The alcohol was obviously getting a stronger grip on her, and the radio began playing an "Alcoholics Anonymous" advertisement.

"Quick, Alfred! To the BatCave!" Sophie yelled, giggling.

Sighing and putting his head on the steering wheel, Sam prayed that Sophie's stomach was stronger than her tolerance for alcohol, otherwise Bumblebee would have to make sudden stops on this little joyride.

()

The sunlight was far too bright for Sophie's liking, and she weakly waved a hand through the air, hissing vile curses as she struggled to find the incredibly elusive entity known as the strings to draw the shades. It took her a good three minutes before she realized that she was lying facedown on her bed, still in the clothes she'd been wearing the night before and still in her combat boots. Cussing again, Sophie rolled off the bed, hitting the floor with a thud. She crawled across the floor and grabbed the strings for the shades and gave them a good yank. There was a popping sound and the shades collapsed down, blocking the sunlight.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Sophie staggered to her feet and grasped her head. It felt like it was split in half, but so far as Sophie could tell, there was no permanent damage.

There was a note taped to her computer screen.

The idea that somebody had been near the thing that she cherished as much as a mother cherished their child was enough to snap Sophie out of her hangover long enough. She darted over and violently ripped the note off the computer screen.

Sophie,

You passed out on the way over here. Dragged you back to your dorm. Borrowed your CS book. Will return it. Thanks.

Sam

Sophie looked over at her bookshelf. Sure enough, her CS book was missing. Oh well, not like she really needed it.

Tripping her way back to bed, Sophie fell face first into her pillow, her head starting to throb again. A few years ago, she would have sworn to whatever deity was listening that she would never drink again, but any more she had found out that she was just lying to herself and to whomever was listening.

Lifting her head slightly, Sophie started at the inside of her right elbow. The scars were almost gone, and it'd be a year since she cleaned her act up. Well, at least, as best as she could. Alcohol was nowhere near as bad as the stuff she'd messed with a year ago. She still had the occasional hankering for the damned stuff, though, as vile as it was.

The door to her dorm room suddenly rattled violently, causing Sophie to jump. Yanking open the door, Sophie found herself glaring at a visibly shaken Sam. Still hungover, Sophie rubbed her eyes and looked Sam over.

"Sam? You okay?"

"Can't talk! Need you to find stuff!" Sam began roughly pushing Sophie towards her computer.

"Hey, hey! What the hell is going on?"

Sam pushed Sophie to the chair in front of her computer and pointed at the monitor.

"Seh-sector Seven! Find them! AllSpark! Find it!"

Staring at Sam and wondering why she hadn't bothered to invest in purchasing mace, Sophie began slowly powering up the computer. Sam waved his hands quickly, urging her to go faster. His left eye was twitching rather uncontrollably, and he seemed to be stuck in an eternal stammer.

"Sam…do you need a doctor?"

"No! I neh-need you to-to-to find all that you can on Seh-sector Seven a-a-and the AllSpark!"

"Any clues as to where I start?" Sophie asked slowly.

"Try classified U.S. government files!" Sam yelled as he darted out the door. Sophie followed him and leaned out the doorway, watching as Sam fumbled for his cell phone and sprinted down the hallway. Somewhere in the back of her head, a small voice told her it would be a bad idea to break into U.S. government files. …she must have really hit the alcohol too hard.

Cracking her knuckles, Sophie double checked to make sure her precious computer hadn't been tampered with any further, and then began working through firewalls. Within about fifteen minutes, she wished she hadn't. Her stomach had turned to ice water and she wanted to find the nearest bottle of vodka and drain it. But Sam had asked her to do this, and like an idiot, she'd done so.

Saving the files to a thumb drive that was only the size of half her thumb, Sophie slowly withdrew the flash drive and dropped it into the small messenger bag she carried around. Finally, anger worked through her mollification and she grabbed her cell phone, furiously dialing Sam's number.

He answered on the first ring.

"Sophie? Sophie! Did you-"

"What the _hell_ have you gotten me into, Samuel Witwicky?"

Apparently Sophie's tone was sharper than she had guessed, because Sam actually paused.

"Um…nothing that you can't handle," he eventually answered.

"Sam…I know that there are big robots here on Earth. I saw the YouTube videos," Sophie paused to take in a breath, "_but you didn't tell me you'd have me pulling up their personal dossiers from classified government files_!"

A pair of students walking by stopped and stared at Sophie as she shrieked into her cell phone. Sophie glared venomously at the two.

"What are you two looking at?" she snarled. They immediately walked away, muttering about some of the crazies on the college campus. Sophie turned her attention back to her cell phone, which she was strengthening her grip on.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I was sort of…out of it when I asked you to do that," Sam replied quietly. "I just need you to get over here, okay? Get here as fast as you can."

"Where is 'here?'" Sophie snapped.

"The junk yard, remember? It's sort of in the middle of the city."

"That's halfway across town!"

"_Please_."

Sophie sighed and gritted her teeth. There was no point in backing out now. She could just as easily tell Sam where to go and how to get there, but the curiosity would kill her in the end. Plus, she'd never live it down if even half this stuff turned out to be true and she missed out on seeing it.

"Fine. I'm on my way." Sophie ended the call.

Sighing, she began running across the campus, cursing with every step. Sam was going to pay dearly for this one. And she had to wonder just how good a friend Sam was, considering in less than forty-eight hours he had dragged her down the dormitory hallway, stolen her book, messed with her precious computer, and now had her carrying around information that could easily get her locked away in the Gulag.


	4. Chapter 4

Bumblebee was crouched down, watching Sam pace back and forth as he kept checking his cell phone. The Autobot scout glanced over to where one of his compatriots, Ironhide, was parked a ways away. There had been some concern about having Sam out in the open with the increased Decepticon activity, and the fact that Sam had invited another human with him made things even more complicated.

Bumblebee knew that Optimus was less than thrilled that Sam had relied on the human named Sophia Martha Annie Anderson to obtain as much information as possible on the AllSpark and what the human government knew about it, but there wasn't much that could be done about it now.

"She should be here by now, Bee," Sam grumbled, checking his cell phone again.

Bumblebee shrugged slightly. He was pretty sure that Sam was overestimating the speed that Sophie could travel, but the Autobot wasn't going to argue. Sam was stressed enough as it was.

A loud crash made both Sam and Bumblebee turn. Sophie was leaning against Ironhide, panting heavily and using the hood of the GMC Topkick pickup to steady herself.

"Sam…!" Sophie wheezed, still staring at the ground. She slowly began walking towards Sam and standing up in the process. "I'm…going…to…kiiieeyaah!"

Shrieking, Sophie staggered back. She was about twenty feet away from Sam and Bumblebee, but that twenty feet felt like two inches when she caught sight of the Autobot. Falling back, Sophie backpedaled quickly, and Sam darted over to her.

"No, no, no! It's okay! He's cool! He's Bumblebee! He's an Autobot. He's one of the good guys!" Sam said quickly.

Sophie was still backing away slowly, her wide eyes staying locked on Bumblebee. Sam very lightly put a hand on her shoulder, trying to put forward the most convincing smile he could, and instead felt about as shady as the car dealer that sold Bumblebee.

"He's cool?" Sophie finally stammered, very slowly allowing herself to be led forward.

"Yeah, he's cool!" Sam replied quickly. "He doesn't talk much, but he's cool."

"He's…um…really…really tall," Sophie whispered, still staring at Bumblebee. "He's one of those…things from YouTube, isn't he?"

"'The media has…greatly exaggerated,'" the radio from Bumblebee crackled suddenly. Sophie jumped, but didn't dart away.

"See? He's one of the good guys," Sam repeated.

Slowly stepping closer to Bumblebee, Sophie peered up at the Autobot, squinting slightly against the sunlight.

"Can I, um…touch him?" Sophie winced slightly at how awkward the question sounded, but as of right now, the finesse of her vocabulary was the least of her concerns.

"Yeah! Sure." Sam stopped and looked at Bumblebee, grinning faintly at realizing he'd impulsively spoken for his robot friend. "Er, sorry Bee. I mean, you're okay with it, yeah?"

In answer, Bumblebee slowly extended a hand towards Sophie in the gesture of a handshake. Sophie very lightly brushed her fingers against the palm of Bumblebee's hand, quickly withdrawing her hand before stepping a little closer, placing her hand back on Bumblebee's index finger.

"Wow…he's…he's really cool," Sophie stammered, laughing nervously. "…still kinda' tall, though."

Sophie stared at Bumblebee, then blinked, and immediately began rummaging through the contents of her bag.

"You wanted the stuff, here it is." Sophie handed the flash drive over to Sam, then paused, appearing to mull something over in her mind. "Wait…Bumblebee is one of the good guys, right?"

"Yeah, so?" Sam was turning the small USB drive over in his hand.

"Bad guys are called…?"

"Decepticons."

"…so if they see me with one of the good guys, then what?"

Sam went quiet. He stared at Sophie with an unreadable stare, then grinned weakly.

"Uh, might I suggest making good friends with the Autobots?"

There were a few seconds of dead silence, then Sophie lunged at Sam, put him in a headlock.

"You son of a bitch!" Sophie shrieked. Bumblebee moved as though to stop Sophie, then paused, appearing to re-think the idea.

"I'm sorry! Ow! I'm sorry! You're the only one I could trust!" Sam cried, flailing and trying to pry Sophie's arm off his neck. "Besides, it's not like the Decepticons make exceptions on who they stomp on, anyways!"

Sophie paused for a few minutes, then glared down at Sam. Snorting in disgust, she released Sam, crossing her arms and scowling angrily at him. Wincing and rubbing his neck, Sam looked at Sophie.

"Owww…that was my neck!" he complained. "You could've broken it! Then I'd be paralyzed."

"Then you wouldn't be able to _feel_ the rest of what I intend to do to you for getting me into this mess," Sophie hissed, nervously chewing at her lip ring.

Sighing, Sam looked down at the flash drive, then looked up at the sound of engines turning over. Ironhide was driving carefully through the scrap metal of the junkyard, the tires crunching the rusted metal. Sophie turned around slowly, watching the GMC Topkick pickup the same way a rabbit would watch a hungry wolf.

"Sam…is that…a, uh, Decepti…Decepti-whatever?"

Bumblebee made a short, mechanical "No, no!" noise, shaking his head quickly. Sam put a hand on Sophie's back, mostly to keep her from running away.

"No, no," Sam said quickly, forcing a weak grin. "Uh, Sophie…this is Ironhide."

The GMC Topkick shuddered and the metal began twisting and locking into place, gears grinding and sparking as the Autobot transformed. Towering over the two humans, Ironhide scowled down at them, his optics scanning over the female human named Sophie.

Remaining surprisingly calm, Sophie slowly shouldered her bag, cleared her throat, and looked at Sam.

"He. Has cannons. The size. Of _Volkswagons_. On his wrists." Sophie stated slowly, pointing at Ironhide. There was a short pause and Sophie quickly flashed the "peace" sign with her fingers. "I'm out. Peace."

Wheeling around sharply, Sophie stalked off, hissing something vile under her breath. Sam smiled at the Autobots nervously.

"Just give me a few minutes." Sam darted off after Sophie, careful to avoid the jagged metal that protruded from the ground.

As Sam chased after Sophie, Bumblebee looked at Ironhide disapprovingly, sighing and shaking his head. Looking slightly disgruntled by the scout's reaction, Ironhide snorted and shrugged.

"If she's that squeamish, then perhaps it's best she leave."

Bumblebee made an odd, crackled growling noise, covering his face with his palm. Looking over at Sam and Sophie, Ironhide watched as the two argued back and forth. Sophie was obviously the more aggressive of the two, even though she was almost as lanky as Sam. Each time she stepped towards Sam, he immediately backed down, though Ironhide almost couldn't blame Sam. Any human that was foolish enough to shove metal through otherwise healthy parts of their body, especially on their face, had to be insane enough to be a threat.

Finally, it appeared the two reached a sort of agreement, and Sophie slowly followed Sam back towards the two Autobots. Sam jogged to them to reach them before Sophie, who was angrily kicking pieces of metal as she walked.

"Hey, okay, she promised to come with us, but you guys have to be real chill, okay?" Sam said, looking over his shoulder at Sophie. Sam looked at Ironhide quickly, then at Bumblebee pleadingly. "Try to keep the, uh…gung-ho, shoot 'em up attitude on the down-low as much as you can, please?"

Bumblebee gave Ironhide a pointed look, to which the weapons specialist grumbled something under his breath about "weak-hearted humans," but he relaxed as best he could, keeping his cannons pointed at the ground.

Sophie stalked up to Sam and glared at him.

"I wanna' cash in on part of our deal already," Sophie hissed.

A look of alarm crossed Sam's face and he began back-pedaling towards Bumblebee.

"Now?"

"Not that part, stupid!" Sophie snapped. "Coffee! You're going to be my little coffee gnome for getting me into this!"

Sam stared at Sophie and blinked quickly, then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Coffee…yes! Coffee! Uh…where? What kind?"

"If it doesn't peel the asphalt off the streets, I don't want to drink it."

The stares that Sophie got from both Sam and the two Autobots made her shrink down slightly.

"What?" she cried, holding out her hands. "Bitter coffee helps put me in a better mood."

Almost immediately, Bumblebee transformed into a Camaro, his engine revving excitedly. Grumbling, Ironhide transformed back into his vehicle form, driving towards the entrance/exit of the junkyard.

Sophie watched Sam dubiously as he got into the yellow Camaro. When she didn't climb into the car, Sam looked over his shoulder at her.

"Were you going to walk to the coffee shop?" he asked.

"…this is weird. I'm getting into a living being." Sophie shook her head angrily. "Just saying that makes me feel weird!"

"Look, he's a car," Sam argued. "I'm pretty sure that if he didn't want to have to give the occasional ride to people, he would've transformed into something else. Like…a toaster!"

Bumblebee's engine revved in outrage, and Sophie jumped a good foot of the ground, looking about ready to make a run for it.

"Sorry, Bee, sorry!" Sam said quickly, holding his hands up. "Sorry, I'm just trying to make a point." He looked at Sophie pleadingly. "C'mon. Bee's a great driver. Besides, you've ridden around in him before."

"That's before I knew that the car was alive," Sophie hissed.

"Last chance. You can either walk, or Bee and I can give you a ride, your choice. C'mon, please."

Sighing, Sophie stalked over to the Camaro, pausing a few seconds before actually opening the door, then yanked the door open and climbed into the passenger's seat, crossing her arms and letting the door shut on its own.

"…if he sprays me with any sort of goo, I'm going to blame you," Sophie grumbled.

Bumblebee pulled out of the junkyard, carefully merging with traffic. Behind him, Ironhide followed, keeping enough of a distance to not appear suspicious, but close enough that if any Decepticons decided to appear, they'd be in more than a bit of trouble.

"Here, Bee," Sam said, pointing down a street. "Closest coffee shop is there."

"…so…how many of these, uh, Autobots, are there?" Sophie asked, studying the chipped nail polish on her fingernails.

"Uh…well, there's Bumblebee and Ironhide, there's also Ratchet and Optimus Prime. Optimus is their leader. I think they got some new guys, too," Sam said.

"So what's the ratio of Autobots to Decepti-scum?"

The radio crackled on and the sound of a cheering crowd came from the speakers. Sam looked over at Sophie with an unamused look.

"'Deceptiscum?' Really?"

"Look, you told me to make friends with these guys. I'm sure as hell not going to go out and throw rocks at some giant alien robot who's already looking to stomp on me, so, I'll do the next best thing, insult the bad guys and say disparaging remarks about their mothers."

Sam paused, thought about the idea, then nodded his head in agreement.

Bumblebee carefully pulled into the parking lot of the coffee shop, opening the passenger door as Sophie scrambled out. Brushing herself off quickly, she dashed inside. Sam sighed and put his head on the steering wheel.

"Why do I do these things, Bee?" he said. "All I wanted was help for my Computer Science homework. That's all I wanted, Bee. Instead, I'm dragging Sophie along for a ride she obviously doesn't want to go on."

"I can't-can't say I blame h-her."

The sound of Bumblebee's voice, however garbled by static and feedback, made Sam raise his head slightly, looking at the dashboard. The lights glowed faintly, and Sam managed a weak smile.

"Yeah, well, I was surprised I even managed to get her to come back with us. I think Ironhide scared the bejeezus out of her."

"'It's the story of David versus Goliath!'" the radio replied.

"Yeah, no kidding," Sam laughed. "I was almost certain she was going to bash my head in."

"I wouldn't do that."

Sophie's voice made Sam jump slightly, and he looked over his shoulder quickly. Sophie was standing outside, holding a large cup of coffee and some sort of pastry tucked away in brown paper.

"Oh, sorry!" Sam said. "I didn't know you were…there. You're really quiet. You're like a ninja or something."

"Pirate," Sophie said quickly, getting back into the passenger's seat.

"I'm sorry. What?"

"I'm a pirate. I'm not a ninja," Sophie replied, cautiously sipping at the steaming coffee, making a face as the liquid burned her tongue. "I'm a pirate. I don't fight fair." She looked at the pastry. "Here. I bought you a cookie. It's for screaming at you and, uh, calling you a string-bean armed shrimp with a bad haircut back there at the junkyard."

"Oh, uhm, thanks," Sam said, ducking his head. He would have preferred if Sophie had kept that insult to herself. He took the pastry and looked at it, slightly surprised . It was a chocolate-chip cookie.

"And the reason I came back was because I don't leave people behind. Period. No excuses, no exceptions," Sophie said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Bumblebee's response was tuning into a station that was currently playing "No One Gets Left Behind" by Five Finger Deathpunch. Sophie pointed at the radio and nodded her head emphatically.

"Exactly. What he said."

The two drove on in silence, Sophie drumming her fingers against the coffee cup in time with the song that was playing on the radio.


	5. Chapter 5

Following Bumblebee, Ironhide kept his scanners constantly searching for any Decepticon signals. Bumblebee, however, had other ideas, as the scout was playing back Sophie's voice over their communication link.

"'And the reason I came back was because I don't leave people behind. Period. No excuses, no exceptions.'"

_"And your point is?"_ Ironhide queried back. He spoke to Bumblebee in their native language, just in case the humans could hear him.

_"She-she sounds-s like…"_

_ "Like what?"_

There was silence.

_"Like what, Bumblebee?"_ Ironhide repeated, irritation starting to seep into his voice.

Suddenly, "No One Gets Left Behind" blared out over Ironhide's speakers, causing the Autobot to swerve suddenly. The noise was almost unbearable, and the weapons specialist briefly considered that Bumblebee's processor was damaged. At least, he did until he heard Bumblebee's garbled chuckling and the volume of the song go down.

_"Very funny, Bumblebee,"_ Ironhide growled, his engine revving slightly. _"I'm not sure what you're trying to get at, but your taste in music needs serious reconsideration."_

_"…sounds like…she's-she's not as…mean as she-she threatens."_

_ "Huh, maybe. Or perhaps she's putting up a front to conceal cowardice."_

_ "You blame-blame her?"_

Ironhide went quiet. His entire life he'd known little more than combat. Granted, he didn't count himself a totally spark-less 'bot, but nonetheless, he knew, probably better than most, that the battlefield was where most people showed their true colors. And sometimes, unfortunately, those colors were just different shades of yellow.

_"I guess not,"_ he answered gruffly.

()

The two Autobots pulled into the main lot of the base, soldiers moving out of the way to allow a clear path to the hangar. As the yellow Camaro came to a stop, Sophie stared out the window cautiously, having sunk down as low as she could in the seat.

"Sam…there's a lot of soldiers out there."

"Yeah, I know. They work with the Autobots. Just relax, I won't tell them about all the music you've downloaded."

"Forget the music," Sophie muttered, climbing out of Bumblebee. "I'd be more concerned about the movies I've downloaded, the security systems I screwed up, and the fact I tried to rig _American Idol_. So I don't think we really need to worry about music, yeah, Sam?"

Nothing.

"Sam?" Sophie stopped, turning around and quickly combing her bleached hair out of her face. As panic began to settle in, Sophie realized that Sam had wandered off, and somehow, regardless of how expansive the hangar was, it was also filled with other people…and giant, alien robots.

The sound of metal twisting, and an odd, warping sound caused Sophie to jump and turn around quickly. Bumblebee, now towering over her in robot mode, stared down at her with blue optics. Looking over her shoulder, then looking back at Bumblebee, Sophie lunged forward and clung to Bumblebee's ankle.

"I know we've only known each other for a short time, but I feel very close to you after that ride, and, um…" Sophie glanced around, still searching for Sam with no luck. "…please dear god don't leave me by myself. I don't want to get squished."

Between the look of confusion and surprise Bumblebee had, he carefully pried Sophie off of his ankle, then looked around the crowded hangar. He motioned for Sophie to follow him as he carefully walked towards where he could see Sam speaking with Lennox. Sophie followed closely, rapidly texting on her phone. While part of her was practically dying to tell Suzanna that she was now surrounded by giant alien robots, the other part of her was more concerned on who the winning team on the latest rugby match was. Her thumbs flitted over the QWERTY keyboard expertly, and Sophie absently noted that she should probably repaint her fingernails. The black nail polish was chipped and almost completely missing on her right thumbnail.

"Hey! Watch it!"

The reverberating, inhumanly loud voice made Sophie shriek and fall back. Quickly looking up from her phone, she had to blink quickly as her eyes struggled to focus on the tread of a pair of car tires that were mere inches from her. Looking up slowly and peering through her blonde hair, Sophie stared up at a tall, sleek looking robot, the lights gleaming off his silver colored body. Two long, straight swords jutted down from his wrists, and he eyed her narrowly with icy blue optics.

"Uh…I-I'm sorry," Sophie stammered, looking around and realizing that people were already staring at her.

"I almost ran you over!" the robot snapped. "It might be a good idea to watch where you're walking rather than fiddling with that communication device."

Her face flushing red, Sophie ducked her head, both embarrassed and wanting to tell the robot he could get bent…or rusted, whichever.

"''ey man, relax. It's all good.'"

Sophie looked behind her. Bumblebee was once again using his radio to communicate, but was waving a finger at the silver robot. Quickly going back to Bumblebee, Sophie glared up at the silver robot quickly before averting her gaze.

"…jerk," Sophie grumbled.

"Sophie!"

Before she could respond, Sam already had grabbed Sophie's arm and was practically dragging her towards a tall man in army fatigues, his brown hair cropped short. Sam nodded towards the man, then looked back at Sophie.

"Sophie, this is Major Lennox, Major Lennox, this is Sophie. The one I was telling you about that could help out."

Sophie looked at Lennox cautiously, then back to Sam, then cleared her throat and managed a nervous smile.

"Uh…hi."

"Nice to meet you," Lennox said quickly, shaking Sophie's hand. Sophie winced slightly, feeling her bruised hand flare up in pain. She would have to remember to repay the favor to that Barbie Girl of the Death Grip Clan next time she saw her.

Sam glanced over his shoulder, then tapped Sophie on the shoulder quickly.

"Hey, over there. Look."

Following where Sam was walking, Sophie saw a large semi truck pull into the hanger, flames racing across the frame.

"Sophie, that, is Optimus Prime."

Before she could ask, the semi truck shuddered slightly, the metal twisting and a sound that Sophie was quickly becoming familiar with emanated from the truck. As she watched the robot stand up to his full height, Sophie felt herself feeling tinier and tinier with each second, and she immediately began saying silent apologies to every gerbil she had ever terrorized and each ant she had ever squished.

The silver robot, the same one that had almost turned Sophie into roadkill, darted towards Optimus, saying something to him that Sophie couldn't hear over the dull murmur of everybody else talking in the hangar. Optimus turned and looked at Sophie, blue optics narrowed.

"Sam," Sophie whispered hoarsely.

"It's cool. He's just kind of cautious about new humans," Sam said quickly. "Something about he doesn't want more humans getting involved than necessary."

"So why am I here…?"

Sam sighed and looked over at Sophie.

"Like I said, you're the only one I could trust."

Sophie looked at Sam for a few minutes, then looked over, her face blanching about three shades paler.

"Uh, Sam…Big Boss is here," she said, darting behind Sam.

Sam looked up at Optimus, then smiled faintly.

"She's, uh, shy around new people."

"I am not!" Sophie hissed angrily. "I don't want to get stepped on!"

"Like I said, she's shy," Sam said with a weak grin.

"This is the human Sophie you were referring to?" Optimus queried.

"Yeah, yeah, this is Sophie. Like I said, I'm pretty sure she can help. She's really good at, uh…_finding_ information."

Sam tried to move to the side, pulling Sophie towards Optimus. Sophie, however, refused to budge, locking her knees and giving Sam a warning glare.

"It's usually nice manners to say 'hi' to newcomers to our planet," Sam said between gritted teeth.

"Hi," Sophie said quickly, peeking over Sam's shoulder and then ducking down.

Optimus watched the two, holding back a chuckle. Sam turned around to Sophie.

"Are you going to do this every time we encounter a robot?" Sam asked angrily. "Because I can tell you, we're going to be wasting a lot of time. And if you decide to do this around Decepticons, I guarantee you'll get stepped on. A _lot_!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sophie snapped, standing straight up. "I didn't know that my survival instinct was such an inconvenience for you!"

"These are the good guys!" Sam replied, motioning to Optimus. "They're not going to step on you! Not even on accident!"

"The Silver Surfer over there almost ran me over flat!"

"That would be Sideswipe," Optimus interjected, "but I can promise you that he would not run over you."

Sophie looked over at Optimus, trying to comb her scraggly hair out of her face. She sighed and nodded her head.

"Okay, I'll play nice, um…" Sophie looked back up at Optimus. "Hi, I'm Sophie. Um…do you like Earth?"

Sam snickered quietly, and Sophie wheeled around, glaring at him.

"What the hell else was I supposed to ask?" she snarled. "What kind of polish he uses for his bumper?"

Sam laughed and shook his head.

"All right, all right, I'll agree with you on that."

There was a loud crash from the other end of the hangar, followed by two voices arguing angrily. Optimus stood up, already recognizing the voices and sighing inwardly. Sophie looked around in a panic, then quickly to Sam, who was looking at the end of the hangar with a cautious gaze.

"Um, Sam, who are those two?"

"Prime!" Skids yelled. "Sideswipe was saying we're getting replaced by some scrawny, punk human!"

"Yeah, what's the big deal? What do they-" Mudflap stopped, catching sight of Sophie. Sophie stared up at the two, and then swallowed hard.

"Um…hi?" Sophie waved weakly, again.

"This is who we're getting replaced by?" Skids cried.

"No, she is not a replacement for either of you," Optimus started. "She-"

"What does she have that we don't?" Mudflap snorted, motioning to Sophie.

Deciding she was through being the center of attention, Sophie summoned up what little courage she had left and cleared her throat loudly.

"You know what I've got that you don't?" she asked loudly. Sophie grabbed Sam's shoulders and shoved him in front of her. "I have a virgin sacrifice for you!"


	6. Chapter 6

With that, Sophie darted back into the small crowd, leaving Sam stammering and trying to come up with a retort. Leaning against a metal beam, Sophie sighed heavily, watching Mudflap and Skids argue with Optimus. Sam was standing in a proximity to the arguing robots that Sophie could only call suicidal, but he seemed to understand more about what was going on than she ever wanted to.

"You know, those two are all talk." The sound of the metal beam she was leaning against talking made Sophie freeze. "And they do nothing but argue, at that."

Taking a deep breath, Sophie looked up, stepping away from the beam. It was the robot with the Volkswagen-sized cannons on his wrists.

"…help," Sophie muttered, not quite knowing what to do.

"Trust me, if I'd wanted to kill you, I would have done so already," Ironhide said gruffly. "Lucky for you, I avoid harming humans."

"Yay…" Sophie looked over her shoulder. Mudflap and Skids were still arguing, and it seemed like their fight was only escalating, albeit comically. Optimus was standing slightly off to the side, watching the two quarrel with an exasperated expression. "Do they…always argue?"

Ironhide glanced down at Sophie, who was trying to hide behind him and at the same time appear inconspicuous about it.

"Always," he answered. "But it's about as dangerous as two sparklings squabbling."

Sophie stopped and frowned.

"'Sparklings?'" she repeated slowly.

"Yes." Ironhide then caught the confused tone in Sophie's voice. "A sparkling is a very young Cybertronian."

Sophie stopped and stared up at Ironhide with a blank look, silently mouthing the word "Cybertronian." Sighing, Ironhide shook his head.

"Never mind," he grumbled.

Deciding that the twins would either argue to the point that they would forget what they had initially been bickering about, or that Optimus would be a far better mediator than he could be, Ironhide turned and walked over to one of the weapons tables. Ratchet was tinkering with something that resembled a generator, and didn't even look up.

"I'm surprised you passed up an opportunity to 'settle' an argument between those two," Ratchet chuckled.

"I'll leave that to Optimus," Ironhide replied, picking up the assault rifle that was his current project. The rifle, while quite powerful, had been having difficulties maintaining a charge for anything past three shots.

"Really?" Ratchet asked incredulously, glancing up. "You must be getting soft in your old age."

"Hardly. It's just there's a better chance of Megatron surrendering than me being able to settle an argument between those two."

"Who's your new friend?" Ratchet asked with a grin, turning his attention back to the generator.

Ironhide stopped and looked around, then glanced down. Sophie had followed him, and was now standing by his left foot, looking still slightly shaken. Snorting slightly, Ironhide set the assault rifle down and looked at Sophie in irritation.

"Can I help you?" he asked steely.

Sophie looked up at him, then glanced over her shoulder to Mudflap and Skids, who appeared to be in a heated staring contest.

"You look like you'd be the last person, er, robot, that they would try and tangle with," Sophie said quietly. She then pointed quickly at Sideswipe. "Not to mention I think I sort of pissed him off."

"You certainly have an interesting choice in protectors," Ratchet laughed.

Sophie appeared to have a panicked look, while Ironhide shot Ratchet an angry glare.

"No, I mean, I was just trying to stay out of the way," Sophie replied quickly, shaking her head. "I'm not trying to, uh, make this guy, Iron…Iron…"

"Ironhide," the weapons specialist interjected, the irritation in his voice growing.

"Yeah, Ironhide," Sophie replied, nodding. "I'm not going to try and make him do…anything…at all."

"Wise choice."

"Come now, Ironhide," Ratchet said, setting the generator down. "We're here to help the humans, not terrorize them. Remember?"

Ironhide growled something in a language that Sophie couldn't understand. It sounded…robotic, for lack of a better term. Ratchet, however, seemed to understand what Ironhide had said perfectly, and seemed offended at that.

"Ironhide!" the medic cried, sounding slightly horrified. "That's no way to speak of anybody."

"Do I even want to know what he said?" Sophie asked, looking up at Ratchet.

"No, no you don't." Ratchet gave Ironhide a disapproving glare. "You should apologize."

"She didn't even understand what I said," Ironhide grumbled, shrugging slightly.

"Even so," Ratchet answered in a matter-of-factly tone.

"…sorry." Ironhide muttered. He looked at Ratchet. "Happy?"

"Somewhat." Ratchet walked around the table and looked at Sophie, studying her. "So this is the human that Sam enlisted the aid of?"

"Yeah, uh, my name's Sophie." Taking a cautious step forward, Sophie smiled up at Ratchet weakly.

"Ratchet. Pleased to meet you. You seem to have already met the rest of the Autobots."

"Regardless of whether we wanted to meet her or not," Ironhide grumbled, turning his attention back to the weapons table.

"Don't mind him," Ratchet said, shaking his head. "If he's not in some sort of bad mood, he wouldn't be Ironhide."

"He's not going to…step on me, is he?" Sophie whispered.

"No." Ratchet chuckled, looking over at Ironhide, who had turned his attention back to the assault rifle.

"Or shoot me?"

"No."

"Kick me?"

"No."

"Throw a car at me?"

"Ironhide, what in the name of Primus did you do to this poor human?" Ratchet cried.

"Nothing," Ironhide replied quickly, "She's just overly sensitive."

Ratchet cast a look at Sophie, then sighed heavily and shook his head in exasperation.

"You know we're supposed to _help_ the humans, not horrify them."

"It's not my fault that she has a weak will."

"Hey! I do not!" Sophie shrieked, turning around and glaring up at Ironhide.

Both Autobots appeared slightly taken aback, and after a few split seconds, Sophie seemed to realize what she had just done. Her eyes got to the size of dinner plates and she blanched three shades paler. She quickly ran behind Ratchet's right leg.

"Hide me," she squeaked.

"A weak will with a good set of lungs," Ironhide said, grinning faintly, looking down the sights of the assault rifle.

()

Bumblebee drove both Sophie and Sam back to the campus, but Sam stopped Sophie before she trudged back to her dorm room.

"Hey, we're cool, right?" Sam asked.

"Huh?"

"We're cool, right? I mean, for, uh…you know."

"For introducing me to giant alien robots that are having basically a turf war on our planet and disguise themselves as cars so that now I'm so terrified of anything motorized that I'm liable to not even go near a mechanical pencil sharpener? Are we cool for that?" Sophie paused, taking in a breath. Her hair looked like she'd been electrocuted by this point, and she was pretty sure there were dark circles forming under her eyes. Even so, she managed a toothy grin and winked. "Yeah, we're cool."

Sam smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. He nodded and jogged across the grass lawns of the campus back to his dorm room. Sophie yawned and began walking back to her dormitory, her feet feeling incredibly heavy. She went up the short flight of stone stairs and finally staggered into her dorm room. Tripping over some of the stray clothes on the floor, Sophie fell face first onto her bed, crawling slowly across the mattress and putting the pillow over her head. Groaning loudly into the blankets and mattress, Sophie tried to fall asleep, but to no avail.

Her brain was far too cluttered with what had happened. Sophie had always thought that she would find out about life from another planet via either the news or some sort of really weird abduction sequence. And while Sophie could argue that she had, in theory, been abducted, it was decidedly bereft of the tractor beam that Sophie had been anticipating.

What really boggled Sophie's mind, however, was that the Autobots seemed borderline human, in some sense. Sam seemed to be extremely good friends with the Autobots, especially Bumblebee, and Sophie was having trouble wrapping her brain around that friendship. In her opinion, the equivalent would be her trying to befriend a pet hamster. She would have to speak Hamster-ese, but that seemed to be the least confusing part of the friendship. There would be the constant concern of stepping on the hamster and turning it into a furry pancake, but maybe the Autobots had some sort of sensor that kept them from crushing humans underfoot. Sophie didn't know and she was far too scared to ask any of them. Not to mention it felt like an extremely personal question to ask.

Outside, the sprinkler system clicked on, the sound of the water spattering against the windows. Sophie peeked out from underneath the pillow out through the window on the north wall of her dorm room. A few stars shone weakly against the light pollution from all of the city's streetlights, but the stars were still there. Sophie stared at one of the stars, suddenly feeling very tiny and insignificant.

Nervously chewing on the metal hoop that was pierced through her lower lip, Sophie pulled the pillow back over her head completely. She tried to drown out the sound of the sprinkler system, and, more importantly, the deafening sound of all her thoughts.


	7. Chapter 7

()

At the sound of the alarm clock blaring angrily at her, Sophie leaped out of bed and began beating the alarm clock angrily with her fist and pillow. Once she had silenced the infernal machine, she stared at it for a few minutes, half expecting it to transform into a robot and go on the attack.

When it didn't, Sophie cautiously got out of bed and got dressed, feeling extremely threatened by every electronic in her dorm room. She darted out of the room, hurriedly cramming her wallet into one pocket and her cell phone into her other pocket. She was in desperate need of coffee, as the sound of every car alarm had made her jump out of bed and search for the nearest, heavy object. Her classes didn't start until later today, and she'd have plenty of time to get back to the university.

Walking down the sidewalk, Sophie glanced over at the cars that were parked on the side of the street. Each time one of them started up or the driver rolled down a window, Sophie felt her heart leap into her throat. When one of the taxi cabs whizzing by honked its horn, Sophie visibly jumped and started to leap into the nearest building. A small kid that was seated in a parked car, probably waiting for their parent, leaned out of the car's open window and laughed at Sophie.

Biting back the urge to teach the kid brand new words, Sophie cleared her throat and resumed walking down the sidewalk, only this time, she tried to appear a bit more sure of herself and less like a scared animal. Stupid kid.

Striding into the coffee shop, Sophie ignored the stares of the glasses wearing, scarf clad hipsters that looked up from their Macs. She was pretty sure she looked like a fright, with old makeup on and disheveled, bleached hair. She needed to get her hair re-bleached, too. Sophie could see the dark color of her roots peeking through the blonde in her reflection of the glass of the pastry case.

"Medium hazelnut latte, extra shot," Sophie said quickly as she approached the counter.

The barista looked up at her and paused.

"Sure you don't want to make that a large latte? With another shot?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sophie just nodded her head slowly. Oh yeah, she must look like an utter fright.

Stepping off to the side to wait for her drink, Sophie pulled out her cellphone and began texting Suzanna. She still hadn't responded to Suzanna's initial text of her asking if Sophie was all right. Sophie had been interrupted by a rather large, silver robot with a bad attitude and no brakes.

"Venti hazelnut latte, two extra shots, for Sophie!"

Finishing up the text telling Suzanna that she was still alive and well, Sophie snatched the latte off the counter and eagerly sipped at the drink. She immediately regretted the decision as her tastebuds were seared by the scalding hot liquid. Muffling a curse, Sophie bit down on the burned part of her tongue and quickly walked out of the coffee shop. She walked briskly down the sidewalk, lightly blowing into the coffee cup to try and cool off the drink.

She was so enamored with her coffee that Sophie failed to see the police cruiser that was slowly following her. Her cellphone suddenly blared a rather morbid sounding jingle, and Sophie yanked the phone out of her pocket.

"Yellow," she said quickly.

"Hey Sophie, it's Sam. I was, uh, just checking to make sure that you're, uh, you know, you're still okay."

"Aww…you warm the little cockles of my cold black heart," Sophie crooned. "I'm fine, you worrywart. Of course, I'm having a minor heart attack each and every time I see a freaking car! This taxi cab honked and I about jumped out of my skin. This stupid little brat even laughed at me!"

"Sorry," Sam replied quickly. "But, you know, most of the Autobots are back at the base."

"And the Decepti-Decep-the big bad ugly guys? Do they have a base as well? Do they have little tea, or oil, parties there?"

"Uh…I dunno'. I mean, they might."

Sophie turned down an alleyway, trying to get away from the traffic. She was still walking quickly, but she felt a little better being away from all the vehicles.

"So how the hell am I supposed to know whether or not I'm staring down the headlights of a bad robot?"

"Uhh…"

Sighing, Sophie took a long swig of the coffee. This time it was cool enough to drink, and she promptly took another swig.

"Never mind," Sophie said quickly. "The more important question is, what do I do when I run into one of the bad robots?"

"If you encounter a Decepticon?" Sam repeated. "Well, um…you would want to run, first and foremost."

"Yeah, no duh."

"Secondly, um…try to hide. And call me. Because then I can send Bumblebee. Or he can at least get in touch with other Autobots and maybe one would be closer."

"Wait, so…my life is dependent on whether or not _you_ answer the phone?" Sophie said slowly, her voice raising.

"Well…yeah, maybe."

"Can't I get Bumblebee on speed dial?" Sophie hissed angrily. "Or how about 'ole cannon-arms? Or better yet, the big boss himself? They're living robots with space-age technology! They've got to have some sort of phone or communication device that has speed dial!"

"Okay, well, it's Ironhide, not 'cannon-arms.' And the 'big boss' is Optimus Prime. Um, you'd probably do a bit better with them if you can call them by name."

Stepping out of the alleyway, Sophie took another swig of the latte.

"Okay, fine, do any of those three have speed dial? I'm pretty sure that-holy hell!"

Sophie jumped back as a police cruiser suddenly lurched out in front of her, keeping her from crossing the street.

"You okay?" Sam asked quickly.

"I'm fine! This idiot almost ran me over!" Sophie glared at the driver's seat. Her blood went cold when she saw nobody in the driver's seat. "Um…Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Send Bumblebee." The police cruiser shuddered and began to transform into a large, incredibly menacing robot. The coffee cup slipped free of Sophie's hand and fell onto the sidewalk, the remainder of the latte splashing around her shoes. "Send Bumblebee. Fast."

Barricade glared down at Sophie, red optics burning bright. Sophie managed a short shriek and began sprinting down the sidewalk, now screaming into her cellphone. Barricade immediately gave chase, roaring at her in that same, computerized language Sophie had heard Ironhide and Ratchet speaking. Behind her, Sophie could hear the Decepticon hurling cars out of the way.

"Send Bumblebee _now_!" she shrieked at Sam.

"Where are you? What's happening?" Sam cried.  
>"I am running down the sidewalk of East Wallace street being chased by a police car from Hell! Satan's police car is chasing me!"<p>

"Run, just run! I'll get Bumblebee!"

All around her, Sophie could hear bystanders screaming and running. The police car robot was haphazardly tossing cars around, the vehicles reduced to twisted, sometimes smoldering, wrecks. She wasn't sure why the Decepticon was after her, but Sophie intended to put as much distance between herself and the cop car from Hell as she could.

()

Again, Barricade found himself chasing down another puny, pathetic human. He despised humans. They were weak, borderline helpless, and utterly incompetent. If there was one thing they could do well, though, it was run extremely fast. This yellow-haired human was no exception.

Any of the vehicles that were in Barricade's way were either tossed aside or crushed underneath his feet. He was supposed to capture the human, not kill her. No matter how much Barricade would have loved to crush the human between his fingers. The human woman had caught the attention of the Decepticons when she showed her allegiance to the Autobots. While she wasn't a major threat now, she could become one. She was capable of retrieving information very well. And that could both help and hinder the Decepticon cause.

Barricade didn't really care about any of that, in all honesty. He was simply thrilled at the prospect of being allowed to hunt and destroy in the process of hunting.


	8. Chapter 8

()

Ironhide hadn't been able to initially understand Bumblebee's hurried distress call. The weapons specialist had at first thought it was Bumblebee who was in danger. But after getting Bumblebee to slow down and repeat the transmission, Ironhide had understood what was wrong.

It was that human woman. Sam's friend. She was currently being pursued by a Decepticon. And unless another Decepticon had taken on the guise of a police car, Ironhide knew the opponent he was about to engage. Barricade.

The GMC Topkick pickup barreled down the street, weaving in and out of traffic. He intended to cut Barricade off in mid-chase, hoping to both stop the Decepticon and give Sophie more time to flee.

His engine roaring as he put on an extra burst of speed, Ironhide felt his circuits spark in fury. While Sophie had been annoying, and at the worst, obnoxious, she didn't deserve to be chased down like some unfortunate animal by a crazed Decepticon. Ironhide intended to get that point across to Barricade. And if that required blasting the Decepticon into bits, then so be it. In fact, Ironhide was rather fond of the idea of busting some Decepti-chops.

Whipping around a corner, tires shrieking as they fought to find traction on the asphalt, Ironhide careened down the street. He was nearing the location that Sophie had said she was at, but he didn't see any sign of her or the Decepticon. Where was she?

Ironhide soon got his answer when Sophie darted out of an alleyway…and right in front of him. Sophie looked up and shrieked, falling to the ground. Ironhide slammed the brakes and transformed, managing to use the momentum to toss himself over Sophie. He rolled for a few feet, crushing a car in the process, and stopped, quickly getting to his feet. Ironhide looked to where Sophie was huddled in the middle of the street. Other human bystanders were staring at him with wide eyes, but most were fleeing the area.

"Sophie?" Ironhide asked cautiously. He was fairly certain he hadn't hit her, but he couldn't be positive.

Slowly, Sophie uncurled and looked around. When she saw Ironhide, she stared at him for a few minutes. Contrary to her attitude the first time they had met, Sophie appeared frightened, frazzled, and somewhere between tears and having a total panic attack.

"Ironhide, right?" she whispered.

"Yes. Where's the Decepticon?"

Sophie pointed behind Ironhide, her hand shaking quickly. The sound of metal being crushed immediately had Ironhide's attention, and he turned around just in time to get the full brunt of Barricade's right fist.

Staggering back, bright green mech fluid rushing to the deep gouge across his lower jaw, Ironhide trained his wrist cannon on Barricade, firing two shots. The first shot missed, but the second shot found its target, striking Barricade squarely in the chest. The Decepticon fell back, but only a short ways.

"Sophie! Run!" Ironhide commanded.

With a short yelp, Sophie dashed back down the alleyway she had run out of. That was one less worry for Ironhide.

Turning his full attention to Barricade, Ironhide charged the Decepticon. He managed to plant his shoulder squarely against the smoldering injury on Barricade's chest and then slam the Decepticon against the asphalt. Shoving Ironhide away, Barricade swung his signature blades upward, the razor sharp edges cutting against Ironhide's left arm. Ignoring the pain, Ironhide grabbed the weapon and used it to pull Barricade forward enough to plant a solid kick straight to Barricade's face.

"Cannon-arms! There's two of them! There's two of the fugly thing!" Sophie came shrieking back out the alleyway and raced towards Ironhide.

His attention suddenly diverted, Ironhide looked over at Sophie. She was looking down the alleyway with a terrified look.

"Where is the other Decepticon?" Ironhide barked, also aware that Barricade was slowly getting to his feet.

"Right there!" Sophie screamed, trying to leap out of the way as a pulse cannon blast ripped through the alleyway.

Lunging forward, Ironhide put himself between the cannon blast and Sophie. The shot hit him full force on the shoulder, and the Autobot warrior grunted at the bite of pain that shot through his circuitry. He stayed upright, however, and looked up to see another Decepticon, this one smaller and faster than Barricade, crashing down the alley. Standing straight up, Ironhide trained one wrist cannon on Barricade, who was back on his feet, and the other wrist cannon on the new Decepticon. It was enough to make both Decepticons stop in their tracks.

"Hand over the female human, Autobot," Barricade snarled, almost spitting out the last word. "And we won't rip your feeble, old spark from its casing."

Sophie was huddled at his left foot, and she whimpered slightly at the sound of Barricade's voice. His optics narrowing, Ironhide ignored the stubborn pain in his right shoulder and snorted at the Decepticon derisively.

"I'm afraid, gentlemen, that the human would rather keep far more savory company than the likes of a couple, despicable Decepticons."

"The human will be killed if you choose to fight us!" the other Decepticon hissed, his voice sounding like sheet metal being torn apart. "Why not just turn her over and spare her being crushed underfoot?"

"I'll take my chances of being squished!" Sophie managed to squeak.

"Seeing as how the human is under Autobot protection, I do believe I have to honor this lady's wishes," Ironhide growled, charging up both cannons. He winced slightly as the circuits on his right cannon sparked, sending sharp jabs of pain through his arm.

"So be it, Autobot," Barricade snapped.

The two Decepticons charged in unison, and Ironhide fired both cannons. The younger, less experienced Decepticon was hit, but Barricade knew what to expect and dodged out of the way. He brought down his blades once again, this time they tore deep into Ironhide's already wounded right shoulder. Grabbing Barricade's wrist to stop the blades from going in any further, Ironhide braced himself to keep from accidentally crushing Sophie.

"Sophie! Get to cover!" he roared.

Sophie was already scrambling to a nearby, overturned car. Once she was safely behind the partially crushed vehicle, Ironhide turned his attention back to Barricade and the younger Decepticon that had gotten back to his feet and was charging. Summoning up his strength, Ironhide twisted Barricade's arm, wrenching the Decepticon's hand free of the blades that were buried in Ironhide's shoulder. Barricade raked his free hand across Ironhide's chest, trying to make good on his promise to rip out Ironhide's spark. Growling, Ironhide hurled Barricade in the direction of the charging Decepticon, charging up his left cannon in the process. The smaller Decepticon leapt deftly over Barricade…just in time to get a cannon blast straight to the face.

Ignoring his system's warning of the depleted power in his right cannon, Ironhide opened fire on the two Decepticons. Still recovering from being tossed through the air, Barricade took three blasts before he leapt to his feet and glared at Ironhide, aiming a pulse rifle at the Autobot. The two scowled at each other, Ironhide waiting for Barricade to make his move, and Barricade waiting for Ironhide to make his move. Ironhide, however, knew he couldn't hold the two Decepticons off forever, and while reinforcements were on their way, the closest Autobot was Bumblebee, and he had been across town when they had last spoke.

Fortunately, Barricade must have decided that Sophie wasn't worth the trouble, because he barked an order at the younger Decepticon to retreat and promptly transformed back into his vehicle form. Watching the Decepticon in the guise of a police cruiser tear off down the street, and ensuring that the younger Decepticon followed suit, Ironhide made sure they were good and gone before lowering his cannons.

Sighing, Ironhide took note of the damage he'd sustained. The worst was his right shoulder. Between the cannon blast and the two blades embedded in his shoulder, Ironhide could only imagine the lecture he was going to get from Ratchet. His chest was scraped up a bit, and his lower jaw was still bleeding a bit of mech fuel, but other than that, Ironhide was no worse for wear. And none of these injuries were something he hadn't dealt with before.

"You okay…?"

Ironhide turned his gaze to Sophie, who was approaching him cautiously and staring up at him with wide eyes. She had blood smeared across her face from a small cut on her chin, and it looked like both of her elbows were scraped pretty badly. It had to be when she tried to jump out of the way of the cannon blast from the younger Decepticon…

"I'm fine," Ironhide answered flatly. "Nothing I haven't dealt with before. What about you?"

"What? This?" Sophie asked, holding up her arms to show her bruised and bloodied elbows. "This is nothing. I've played rugby drunk before, so these are like papercuts."

Sophie smiled weakly, but she still looked timid. Ironhide studied her for a few moments. He had never been one for pleasantries, and humans were particularly difficult to deal with. They were far more emotional than most 'bots, and while Ironhide was all for protecting the human race, he wasn't exactly one for baby-sitting.

"The Decepticons are gone," he said finally, trying to sound as comforting as he could manage. "And they've been taught a very sound lesson. One I don't think they will be forgetting any time soon."

"You sure?" Sophie whispered, glancing in the direction that the Decepticons had retreated.

"Yes, I'm sure," Ironhid replied tersely. Sophie winced and looked away at the irritated tone in Ironhide's voice. Sighing, Ironhide turned on his comm link. "Prime, I've got the human wo-I mean, Sophie. She's safe and I'll be bringing her to base shortly."

"Glad to hear it." Sophie glanced up at the sound of Optimus's voice on the comm link, but quickly looked back down the street when Ironhide turned the comm link off and glanced back at her.

"Um…thanks," Sophie finally said, looking up at Ironhide from behind her shaggy, blonde hair. "For saving my butt. You know…multiple times."

Ironhide nodded slightly and shrugged his right shoulder, wincing.

"We need to get back to base. You need to have your injuries tended to."

"I'm more worried about yours," Sophie said in a matter-of-factly tone, crossing her arms.

Ironhide paused and looked down at Sophie, a bit surprised at her statement. Sophie certainly didn't seem to be one for concern or sentiment. He said nothing in reply, transforming back into his vehicle form. Opening the passenger's side door, Ironhide waited in silence for Sophie.

After a few minutes, Sophie carefully made her way to Ironhide, her fingers lightly grazing across the passenger door. She climbed into the passenger seat and sat there in silence, not even flinching when the passenger door shut on its own.

"Seatbelt," Ironhide reminded.

"Oh yeah, huh?" Sophie quickly pulled the seatbelt across her chest and buckled it. She sighed heavily and leaned her head against the headrest of the passenger seat. Ironhide took a quick scan of her vitals. Her pulse was still racing and she was breathing shallowly.

"You handled that quite well," he said, driving down the street, avoiding the wreckage from the fight.

"Thanks," Sophie said, closing her eyes. "All I really did was scream, run, and get you shot, though."

"Hazard of the trade," Ironhide chuckled faintly. He was terrible at trying to console anybody, much less a panicked, young female woman, but Ironhide certainly couldn't afford her having a heart attack in the passenger seat.

Sophie opened her eyes and lifted her head, looking out the passenger window.

"How long have you been fighting the Decepticons?" she asked absently.

"A very, very long time."

"Are you making any progress against them?"

"Some," Ironhide replied. The small talk was getting Sophie to breathe normally and bring down her heart rate, so Ironhide continued talking. "However, it is…difficult, at times, to fight them on such foreign terrain. Many of your human buildings are fragile in comparison to the structures back on Cybertron."

"Cybertron?"

"Our home planet."

"And I'm guessing it also doesn't help that you've got a bunch of squealing, frail, fleshy pink things running around when you're fighting the Decpticons, huh?" Sophie muttered.

"It makes things interesting," Ironhide answered after a pause.

"Sorry."

Again, Sophie's response surprised Ironhide. She had been overly confident to the point of arrogant when he had first met her, now she was far more reserved and quiet. Of course, she had just been threatened by an alien creature that was infinitely stronger and more powerful than she was. Ironhide had seen younger 'bots that had been in shock after dealing with their first skirmish on the battlefield, and this could very well be Sophie's on shock of seeing a Decepticon up close.

"Nothing to apologize for," Ironhide replied. "The Decepticons invaded your home planet, and we Autobots had to pursue them to ensure they didn't annihilate your planet."

Sighing heavily, Sophie leaned forward and rested her forehead on the dashboard. Her vitals were back to normal, which was a good sign, and at this point she just seemed exhausted.

"You should rest," Ironhide commented. "We'll be back at the base shortly."

"You'll wake me up when we get there?" Sophie asked with a grin, her cocky attitude slowly returning.

"I have to. Can't have you riding around all day," Ironhide replied, stifling a laugh.


	9. Chapter 9

()

When Ironhide arrived at the Autobot base, he was immediately greeted by Sam, who looked a bit panicked.

"Is she okay?" Sam asked quickly. "Is she all right?"

Ironhide was quiet, but he slowly opened the passenger door, a slight creak making it seem slightly ominous. Sophie slid down out of the passenger seat, looking extremely frazzled and exhausted. Her blonde hair was mussed and actually singed in a couple of places. Soot was smeared across her right arm and on her neck, and both her elbows were scraped and bloody.

Sam paused and looked at Sophie with wide eyes.

"Are you all right?" he finally asked slowly.

"Run, Sam," Sophie croaked, rubbing her eyes. "Run, Sam…because I am going to _kill_ you."

There was a moment of hesitation, and Sam took off across the hangar. Sophie immediately gave pursuit, while Ironhide transformed into his robot form, wincing at the spray of sparks from his injured soldier.

"Good Primus, Ironhide," Ratchet said, doing a quick scan of Ironhide's injuries. "You do know that we're allowed to use guns against the Decepticons, right? You don't have to rip them apart with your bare hands…as exhilarating as that may be."

"There were two of them," Ironhide grumbled in response, looking over at the sound of Sam yelping. Sophie must have caught up with him. "Besides, I had to also watch out for the human."

"She didn't run?" Ratchet looked quite surprised.

"There was nowhere to run to. The second Decepticon cut her off when she was trying to flee." Ironhide jerked away slightly as Ratchet pried one of the blades free from his shoulder. Ratchet sighed and shook his head. "She eventually found cover, but it was still close to the fighting."

"I see," Ratchet mumbled, more focused on Ironhide's injuries than the conversation at hand. "She seems rather perturbed at Sam."

"She holds him somewhat responsible for getting her into this fight. However, it seems mostly good-natured. I don't think she will-"

Sam staggered by, breathing heavily. He glanced over his shoulder in panic, then looked up at Ratchet and Ironhide.

"Has Sophie come by here?" he wheezed.

Both Ironhide and Ratchet slowly shook their heads, and Sam sat down on the floor, trying to catch his breath. Neither of the Autobots really felt it completely necessary to say that they could see Sophie slowly sneaking up on Sam.

"What was that about her good nature?" Ratchet inquired.

"Never mind," Ironhide replied shortly.

Pausing in mid-step, Sophie looked at the two Autobots, then crouched down, still watching Sam. She seemed torn between pummeling Sam into a pulp or to just leave him be.

"You know that Prime's going to be a bit upset that you didn't get Sophie out of harm's way first," Ratchet continued, working on reconnecting some of the circuitry on Ironhide's right arm cannon.

"Yeah, I figured as much," Ironhide grumbled. "Sophie's in one piece, however, and the Decepticons didn't kidnap her either."

"Wait…what do you mean 'ole Ironside is going to be in trouble?" Sophie asked indignantly.

Sam jumped and stood up quickly, watching Sophie. Sophie rolled her eyes and walked past Sam.

"He and I don't exactly see optic-to-optic on humans and their involvement in combat," Ironhide replied. He frowned slightly at looked at Sophie. "And it's 'Ironhide.'"

"Right, right, Iron_hide_." Sophie crossed her arms, appearing deep in thought. "So…what is a human supposed to do in an Autobot versus Decepticon fight? Run away?"

"Exactly," Ratchet answered quickly.

"But…I did," Sophie answered. She held up both elbows. "And then this other Decepticon came after me and I don't know what he…she…it said, but I think it wanted to pull out all my teeth. And my elbows? Yeah, that's what happens when I run away."

"Trust me, had the Decepticon captured you, your elbows would be the least of your worries," Ironhide warned.

"Speaking of which, how bad are those injuries?" Ratchet queried, turning his attention to Sophie.

Jumping slightly, Sophie quickly back-pedaled, hiding her arms behind her back.

"Whoa, whoa! Uh…easy there, doc-bot. I'll just go find some Neosporin and Hello Kitty Band-Aids and call it good. I don't need you welding my elbows shut or something." Sophie shuddered at the idea.

Ratchet stared at Sophie for a few moments, then stifled a laugh and shook his head.

"I may not be the foremost expert on human biology, but I'm not about to weld your elbows shut."

"He will, however, embarrass you in front of your girlfriend," Sam piped up.

"Did I say you could talk?" Sophie snapped, giving Sam a pointed glare.

"Oh give me a break," Sam groaned. "I didn't tell you to help me out."

"Yeah you did."

"Well, I didn't tell you to go out of your way to help the Autobots."

"Uh, yeah…you did."

There was a pause and Sam struggled to find another argument.

"Yeah…well, I…I got nothing," Sam said, throwing his hands up in defeat.

"Mmhm, that's what I thought. Now, you owe me a very large latte with extra espresso shots."

"Another latte? Your heart's going to explode in your chest!"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that Steelhide-"

"_Ironhide_," the weapon's specialist interrupted, irritation rising in his voice.

"Ironhide, sorry," Sophie sighed. "I'm pretty sure that Ironhide would have appreciated it if I had been able to drink my entire latte! I fell asleep on the ride over here and wound up snuggling the arm rest!"

Both Sam and Ratchet fell silent, then turned to give Ironhide stares of disbelief.

"Snuggled the arm rest?" Ratchet repeated, trying not to burst into fits of laughter.

Ironhide glared at Sophie, then turned the glare to Ratchet.

"She was exhausted, and it was better to let her sleep than listen to her hysterically babble," Ironhide growled.

"She…snuggled the arm rest," Ratchet said, laughter interrupting the sentence a couple times.

"I'm pretty sure we can get you a teddy bear or something," Sam snickered. "Not sure Ironhide is up to being a bunk bed."

"I will destroy you," Sophie hissed. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have to worry about anything except an overly pissy professor in my stupid Astronomy class and a really loud next door neighbor."

"Look, I've already explained myself a couple times," Sam sighed. "Besides, it's good that you're finally trusting the Autobots!"

"Well it's not like I really have any alternatives. After being close enough to one of those Decepticons to count the number of bolts in its foot, I either need a full armament of nuclear missiles at my disposal or try to be friends with one of these Autobots!"

"Well I'm proud of you for going with a smart choice," Sam retorted.

Sighing and rolling her eyes, Sophie glanced over and saw Optimus Prime talking to Lennox. Sophie held up a hand to Sam.

"I'll be right back!" she said quickly, darting off.

Walking up cautiously to the Autobot leader, Sophie stood up straight, trying to appear as tall and calm as she could manage. …never mind the fact that her mouth was already dry and she was having to lock her knees to keep from falling over.

"Um…mister Prime…sir…?" Sophie squeaked quietly.

Lennox, who had been standing on a platform so he could speak to the Autobot leader a little easier, looked down at Sophie with a puzzled look. Optimus Prime turned around and looked down at Sophie.

"Yes?"

"Uh…I…uh…"

"You know you're supposed to talk now," Sam whispered, walking up to Sophie.

Jumping and stifling a shriek, Sophie whirled around and glared at Sam.

"Don't do that!" she hissed.

"What?" Sam looked her over quickly. "Wow…you're really nervous, aren't you?"

"No..!" Sophie paused, then smiled weakly. "…yes."

"Uh, Optimus, Sophie wanted to talk to you about Ironhide," Sam said. He glanced over at Sophie, who was still trying to form a complete sentence. "But Sophie appears to be so uptight that she can't take a cue as to when to speak."

"Yes, I can take a cue!" Sophie retorted. She turned and looked up at Optimus, clearing her throat. "Um…there was mention that you might be mad at Ironhide because I didn't get out of the fight with the Decepticons and got a bit scraped up in the process. So, I-I wanted to…you know…talk to you…about…that."

"Ironhide failed to ensure that you were safely removed from the fight with the Decepticons?" Optimus asked.

Sophie blanched about three shades paler.

"Uh…he…uh…ye-no, no, no, no!" Sophie looked up to Lennox for any sort of cue as to what she should say next. Lennox, however, appeared to either be choking or fighting the urge to laugh. "No, I mean…there was nowhere for me to run! Ironhide saved my life multiple times! The guy even took a bullet-er-plasma blast for me! That's gotta' be worth something, right? And…and so…and so…don't be mad at him! Please? I mean, if you have to be mad at somebody, be mad at me, because, you know, I didn't hide fast enough. …but, uh…please don't be mad at me."

Optimus studied Sophie for a few minutes, and Sophie fought to keep from hiding behind Sam. Optimus then smiled knowingly and nodded.

"Very well, I will take what you have told me into consideration."

"Okay…um…so Ironhide's not in trouble, right?"

"While I would have preferred you to be a safe distance from the fight, it sounds as though Ironhide did everything in his power to keep you safe, which is all I can ask. So, no, he is not in trouble."

"Oh…okay. Good. Um…thank you."

"Were there any other concerns you wished to voice?" Optimus asked, still smiling faintly.

"No…no, sir," Sophie said, shaking her head.

As she walked away, Sam grinned and followed Sophie.

"I'm impressed," Sam said. "Didn't think you'd be able to talk to Optimus without having some sort of spaz attack."

"Oh, don't worry. I'll have a spaz attack soon enough. I think it's just a delayed response right now," Sophie answered.


	10. Chapter 10

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His engine screaming as he tore through down the street, Barricade made a mental note to personally tell Starscream how utterly useless his plans were. The Decepticon could hear his compatriot struggling to keep up, but as far as Barricade was concerned, the younger Decepticon could crash and rot for all he cared. If it hadn't been for Thrash's inexperience and overzealous behavior, they would be taking that wretched human woman as their captive. Starscream believed that the human woman could be used for the Decepticon cause. All she had proven to be useful for was getting the attention of an old, cantankerous Autobot.

…of course, that in itself could be useful as well.

Thrash was keeping up with Barricade, but barely. He had been hit a bit harder and wasn't able to use as much power as he normally could to keep pace with Barricade's breakneck speed.

As the thought of being able to capture Sophie and possibly kill an Autobot or two in the fray snaked its way through Barricade's processor, it cooled his fury, and he slowed down, allowing Thrash to catch up. The younger Decepticon wisely stayed quiet, but Barricade could tell that Thrash was grateful for the slower pace. Barricade wondered how closely Sophie was being watched now. Would the Decepticons still have the opportunity to capture her?

"Sir, won't Starscream be upset that we don't have Sophie as our hostage?" Thrash finally inquired over the comm-link.

"Most likely," Barricade snapped angrily. "Which is why you will be delivering Starscream the news of the failure to capture the human woman."

Thrash fell silent, but Barricade could practically sense the Decepticon's apprehension. It didn't matter, really. If Starscream was foolish enough to berate them for walking blindly into battle, then Barricade would have some choice words to say to Starscream.

The rendezvous point was an old, abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the town and was about fifteen minutes away at the speed they were goin. Starscream would most likely already be there, having the benefit of flight to cover far more ground than Barricade or Thrash could. Barricade couldn't care less if Starscream waited for fifteen more minutes or fifteen more decades. The flying fool had put the Decepticon cause at risk. The least he could do was learn some patience.

As they neared the warehouse, Thrash slowed down considerably, his engine going from a loud roar to a dull thrum. Barricade smiled sadistically to himself. Both of them knew how well Starscream was going to take their failure, and as headstrong a Thrash may have been, he wasn't stupid.

Sure enough, Starscream was waiting in the warehouse, already impatiently pacing back and forth. When he saw the other two Decepticons drive into the giant, empty metal building, he stopped, optics narrowed and watching them closely.

"Well?" he snapped, his instantly recognizable voice echoing through the warehouse.

To Barricade's surprise, Thrash transformed and spoke up first, though he fought to keep his voice steady.

"Sir, the human female was under the, uh, guardianship, of an Autobot. She managed to escape."

"'Escape?'" Starscream spat angrily. "The two of you couldn't handle one miserable Autobot and a puny human?"

"That 'miserable Autobot,' as you so eloquently put it," Barricade snarled, transforming and taking a couple steps towards Starscream, "was that trigger-happy, gun-wielding maniac Ironhide. You could have warned us that we would be going against the weapons specialist of the Autobots!"

"The both of you couldn't handle some ancient Autobot with a couple of guns?" Starscream hissed.

"Then perhaps next time you should be the one to take a plasma cannon blast straight to the face," Barricade snapped. "It might knock some sense into your core processor!"

"How dare you speak to me in such a manner! I am the leader of the Decepticons! I give the orders, not you!"

Thrash wisely remained silent, watching the two bicker back and forth. While Starscream technically was the leader of the Decepticons in Megatron's absence, Thrash couldn't say that he was really impressed with Starscream's leadership skills. And as unstable and destruction hungry as Barricade was, Thrash began to silently miss Megatron. At least he was able to keep the other Decepticons in check, whether by orders or brute force.

"Then you should be leading by example and prove to us just how easy it is to capture a human under the protection of a weapons specialist!"

"I shouldn't have to set an example for something so simple!"

Staying quiet, Thrash moved off to a corner of the warehouse, watching the two argue. This could take a while.

()

Sam paced back and forth slowly, waiting for Optimus Prime's debriefing of the Autobots to be over. He needed to get back to his dorm room. He could only imagine the sort of fury that Mikaela had in store for him now. She was supposed to bring him the AllSpark, or rather, what was left of it, but this was after he'd had to ignore phone calls and stood her up on their first internet date. At this rate he'd be lucky if she didn't hurl the remnants of the AllSpark straight at his head.

Off to the right, Sophie was sitting on a table, her back propped up against some boxes. After losing an argument as to why she couldn't order pizza to a top-secret military base, she had gotten quieter. Sam wasn't sure if this was her version of a 'spaz attack' or if that was still in the works. She had bundled up in a jacket supplied by one of the soldiers and was slowly trying to twirl a pen between her fingers.

Sighing and combing his hair back absent-mindedly, Sam glanced over at Bumblebee, who was listening intently to the Autobot leader. While Sam could appreciate the concern that the Autobots had for the destruction that two Decepticons had caused, he really wished that they could send out a memo or something. At least in this instance.

"Trust me, if Mikaela doesn't understand, at least a little, as to why you're late, you really need to find a new girlfriend."

Sam looked over at Sophie and sighed. Mikaela and Sophie had never seen eye-to-eye, but Sophie had usually been the instigator of any fights. While Mikaela seemed to be happy enough to leave Sophie alone, Sophie seemed to have an outright vendetta against Sam's girlfriend. One of these days, Sam was going to have to have Sophie explain her grudge.

"Look, I've stood her up, asked her to fly halfway across the country, and after all the insanity I put her through when the Autobots first arrived, I think Mikaela has a bit of a right to be upset."

Pausing, Sophie chewed on her lip ring before rolling her eyes.

"Fine…I guess so. Still, if you're out saving the world, you should really have an understanding girlfriend."

"I'm pretty sure she's gone way beyond the realm of understanding to blind faith."

"So does that make Mikaela and me your personal lemmings or something? We're just blindly following you around?"

"I'm not exactly keen on calling my girlfriend a lemming."

"And as for me?"

"I'm smart enough to not call you a lemming."

"Yep. You're smart."

"You know, it's no wonder that you and Ironhide get along so well," Sam replied, sounding slightly exasperated.

"Excuse me?" Sophie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, both of you think that violence is the answer."

"I do not!" Sophie protested. She paused, thought about the statement, then cleared her throat. "Well…at least…not most of the time, anyways. Besides, what do you mean that he and I 'get along?' You make it sound like we're high school buddies or something. In case you've forgotten, he's a giant alien robot with enough weaponry to level a third-world, probably even second-world, country, and I'm guessing about as old as Methuselah."

"In the interest of keeping you alive, I'll refrain from letting Ironhide know about those comments. But seriously, if you're going to make friends with the Autobots, you might as well befriend the trigger-happy one."

"Is that supposed to be some sort of comment on my attitude?" Sophie grumbled.

Sam looked to be gearing up another comeback, but his cellphone began to ring. Sophie mumbled something about being saved by the bell as he answered the phone call.

"Hello?"

"Sam?"

"Hi, Mikaela," Sam said a bit loudly, giving Sophie a narrow look.

"Hello, ball and chain!" Sophie yelled in a chipper tone.

"Was that Sophie?" Mikaela asked.

"Sophie? No, no…that's…that's some angry…woman…she's probably drunk, too."

"Drunk, huh?" Sophie asked quietly, the sound of being challenged already rising in her voice. She cleared her throat loud enough to get Sam's attention, and then smiled widely. The smile only became more genuine when she saw the look of panic spread on Sam's face.

"No-" Sam managed to plead before Sophie cut him off.

"Sammy-wammy!" Sophie shrieked, hugging Sam roughly and practically pressing her face against the cell phone. "Where've you been, bay-bee..?"

Fighting to pry Sophie away, Sam also struggled to keep the phone pressed tightly to his ear. One so that he could still hear Mikaela, and then two so that he could maybe drown out some of the obnoxiously off-key humming that Sophie was subjecting him to.

"It's Sophie, isn't it?" Mikaela repeated for the third time, already sounding irritated.

"Well, yes, but Sophie was just leaving, wasn't she?" Sam said, giving Sophie a pointed look and pained grin.

"Go? Going where?" Sophie slurred back, blinking at Sam with wide, doe-like eyes.

"Anywhere but here!" Sam hissed, holding the phone away.

"Are you busy, Sam?" Mikaela asked, again having to repeat herself.

"No! Not at all! Sophie's just...uh...being Sophie."

"But Sammy-wammy...I wuv you," Sophie protested, drawling out the last word.

"I will sic my robot friend on you," Sam threatened. He quickly turned his attention back to the phone. "Mikaela, just...one moment, please. I'm dealing with my soon to be ex-friend if she doesn't stop acting like some drunken prom date."

"Somebody's a crankypants," Sophie grumbled. She leaned forward and yelled at the phone. "Hi, Mikaela! How's, um, where ever you are?"

"Fine, save for the fact that a phone call with just one person seems to be a difficult thing to find," Mikaela answered tersely.

"Bumblebee!" Sam shouted quickly.

Looking over his shoulder, Bumblebee glanced between Sam and Sophie as Sam frantically pointed at Sophie, who was having more of a conversation with Mikaela than Sam was. Mouthing the words, "Get her out of here," Sam pointed at Sophie and then dramatically gestured away from him. Sighing inwardly, Bumblebee walked over and carefully picked up Sophie...and was instantly met with a high-pitched shriek. The noise echoed throughout the hangar, and Sophie, now in Bumblebee's palm, froze. Sam looked up at Sophie, who was now very quiet and appeared very sober, gave her one last glare, and quickly walked off, apologizing profusely to Mikaela.

Looking around at the few soldiers that were now staring at her, Sophie smiled weakly and waved.

"Sorry, um...first time being abducted by aliens is a bit...scary," she said meekly. Turning and looking up at Bumblebee, Sophie glared at the Autobot. "What the hell was that? You scared the bejeezus out of me!"

"'Two's company, but three's a crowd,'" Bumblebee replied, using a tidbit of a radio advertisement to answer.

"Look, when Sam finally meets the girl of his dreams and marries her, he'll thank me that I saved him from that Gorgon that he's currently dating."

Bumblebee made a slightly annoyed chirp and lightly shoved Sophie with his index finger. Sophie crossed her arms and turned up her nose, chuffing angrily.

"You know I'm right," she snapped.

Meanwhile, Sam was still apologizing to Mikaela as she explained flight delays.

"So you're flight's delayed by three hours? Are you sure the shard's okay? And I'm really sorry about Sophie, she's, uh, she's-"

"She's Sophie. Sam, I remember her from high school. She was the one who was always smoking out by the track, getting in fights with the football team, and somehow managing to pass all her classes with straight As. Nobody really got along with her except you and a few other people. And yes, the shard's fine. I haven't let it out of my sight."

"You're sure? I mean, I trust you, but it'd be really bad if we lost that thing. Really, really bad."

"I know, and yes, I'm sure."

"Okay...thanks."

"How are you doing?" Mikaela asked, her tone softening.

"Me? I'm fine. Why? Why do you ask?"

"Because I can't imagine that between dealing with this and then having Sophie constantly harassing you is doing you any good."

"Oh! No, no. I'm fine," Sam replied quickly, standing up a bit straighter and trying to make his voice sound a little gruffer. "This, bah, this is nothing. I could deal with this all day."

"I'm still being abducted by aliens and nobody seems to care!" Sophie yelled from her perch in Bumblebee's hand. "Hey! Ironsides! You're supposed to have my back, right?"

"For the final time, it's 'Ironhide!'"

Sophie bit her lip ring, looking a bit flustered. She looked up at Bumblebee and leaned towards him.

"He's all mad now, isn't he?" she asked, whispering conspiratorially.

Bumblebee nodded slowly.

Sam looked at both Bumblebee and Sophie, then sighed and turned his attention back to the phone.

"But, you know, if you wanted to get here early, that would still be totally cool," he said to Mikaela, trying to mask the pleading tone in his voice.

"That bad, huh?" Mikaela laughed.

"You have no idea. If she's not doubting the fact that the Autobots are here to keep Earth from becoming the Decepticons' personal shooting gallery, Sophie can't seem to get Ironhide's name right. ...and to say that it's pissing Ironhide off would be the understatement of the year."

"She can't get his name right?"

"Yeah, it's like she's got name Alzheimer's or something when it comes to Ironhide," Sam replied, ignoring the face that Sophie was making at him.

"How hard is it to get Ironhide's name right?" Mikaela asked slowly. "I mean, it's just two words..."

"Yeah, I don't know, but she seems to have been able to make every other combination of words that sounds somewhat like his name.

"How can somebody who passed almost all our high school classes with minimal effort have such a problem with a name?"

"If you figure that one out, let me know, because I think Ironhide is on the verge of stomping on her."

"Well, I'll think about it while I'm looking for some place halfway decent to eat in this airport. So I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay, sure. And, um, Mikaela?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful."

"Always," Mikaela laughed.


	11. Chapter 11

As he ended the cell phone call, Sam glared up at Sophie, who was still being held semi-hostage by Bumblebee.

"Really? You couldn't give me five seconds with Mikaela?"

"I gave you five seconds!" Sophie replied. "..and five seconds is my limit of how long I can allow you to speak to that woman."

Sighing and letting his hands fall to his sides, Sam gave Sophie an exasperated look. He shook his head and put the cell phone back in his pocket.

"Yeah, well I know this much, you mess up Ironhide's name one more time and he's liable to give you five seconds to run away before trying to stomp on you."

"Yeah...I know," Sophie muttered glumly.

Bumblebee looked between the two quickly, making a slightly worried robotic hum. He lowered Sophie down carefully to the floor, and she climbed out of his palm.

"Look, I know you don't like Mikaela," Sam said. "I remember that you and her fought constantly in high school. But I really like her, okay? And I miss seeing her already."

"All right, all right," Sophie replied, holding her hands up. "Sorry. I'll...back off, then. I just know how mean and vindictive she can be. I don't want her to do that to you."

"Thanks, but, uh...I think I can handle myself."

Sophie was quiet, but rolled her eyes slightly, obviously not believing Sam. She wandered over to where she had been perched on a stack of crates, climbing onto one of the crates and sitting down. She pulled out her cell phone and began tapping away quickly on the keyboard.

"You two went to high school together?"

Sam looked up to Epps, who had been sitting in silence behind a computer as the two had been arguing. Nodding slightly, Sam managed a weak smile.

"Yeah. Sophie was part of our high school rugby team and always getting in fights with the football players. When she found out that I, uh...failed the tryouts, she offered to help get me into the guy's rugby team."

"Wait a minute, you failed football tryouts and she was going to get you into rugby?"

"Yeah. She wanted to give me an excuse to basically pummel the daylights out of football players. ...it didn't go well. She wound up fishing me out of a...a, uh...dumpster."

Epps made a slight face as he tried to suppress the urge to laugh, and Sam ducked his head.

"Sounds like that didn't go as planned," Epps finally replied.

"To say the least," Sam laughed. "But it worked out okay. I mean, I think Sophie was kind of lonely or something. She didn't have many friends. She was, er, still is, a bit of a rough person to get along with. Didn't help that she was known as a chronic smoker and drinker in high school, and...uh...worse things."

The last part of the sentence made Epps pause and he looked up at Sam, raising an eyebrow.

"'Worse things'?"

"Yeah...um...I'd really rather not say," Sam answered slowly, casting a cautious glance over to where Sophie was sitting. She hadn't looked up from her phone since she'd started typing on it. "But, I mean, she was a really good friend. Really reliable, too. Bailed me out of at least five computer tests. I think she's the only reason that I passed my last computer class...and never got my eBay account hacked, either. At least, not by humans."

"Sounds like quite a card," Epps said, looking over at Sophie. "'Rough' person though, huh? No wonder she and 'ole Ironhide get along so well."

"Not sure how many times Ironhide's going to take her messing up his name, though. He's liable to stomp on her next time she calls him something else."

"Nah," Epps answered, grinning. "I think 'ole Ironhide will threaten her up one way and down the other, but he ain't going to hurt her. But don't you tell him I said that."

"I heard nothing," Sam laughed lightly.

"So I heard you told Prime that you're not, and I quote, an 'alien ambassador'?"

Ducking his head, Sam looked at Epps with a tired expression.

"I told him I was sorry," Sam argued. "But what can I do? You honestly think that anybody would listen to me? My own parents barely believed me! What do you think some foreign ambassador is going to think? You think I could explain having a giant alien robot car to the President?"

"Considering everything that's happened, I think a lot of people would be far more willing to listen," Epps countered. He leaned back in the chair and looked over to where Optmus Prime was speaking to Lennox. "But I do know that Prime's got a lot of faith in you, and for what it's worth, I think his faith is well-placed. It might be worth reconsidering his request."

"Yeah...I know," Sam replied glumly. He truly did feel bad for not helping out the Autobots, but he could only imagine the laughter that he would get when he was introduced as the "Alien Ambassador for the Autobots." The more he thought about it, he would be lucky to get laughed at. He'd be more likely to be hauled away by security.

"But, hey, I would have probably said the same thing if I was in your situation," Epps quickly added, seeing Sam's crestfallen expression. "I'd be way too worried about saying the wrong thing and putting our robot buddies in a worse spot than they're already in."

"Is it really that hard for people to figure out that the Autobots are on our side?" Sam asked in irritation. "How many times do they have to keep our planet from getting taken over by the Decepticons before people start giving them even basic respect? They even lost a guy in the name of protecting Earth. Does that mean nothing?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Epps replied, holding up his hands. "Personally I'm getting a bit tired of the whole idea that we're supposed to be able to take on the Decepticons by ourselves and not get our asses handed to us. We need the Autobots to back us up."

"Yeah, but we need to backup the Autobots," Sam sighed, realizing what he was saying.

Epps was quiet for a few minutes, then grinned.

"Well, if you do have to go play 'Alien Ambassador,' let me know. I'll back you up."

"Thanks," Sam laughed.

()

Though he had finished speaking to Lennox, Optimus had stayed relatively still. He could hear Sam talking to Epps, and he could also hear the conflict in Sam's voice.

It wasn't that Optimus had an issue speaking with humans, the problem lay in that most humans didn't want to hear what he had to say. From what Optimus had heard from the leaders of the various governments of the human race, their opinions had already been set and their minds had been made. They understood that the Decepticons were the enemy, but they viewed the Autobots as responsible for bringing the Decepticons to Earth. And by some reasoning, they were correct. But what most of the humans failed to understand was that the Autobots had dedicated themselves to protecting the human race from the Decepticons.

Some humans understood, but not all of them. And, frustratingly enough, it seemed that the leaders of the human race were the most stubborn in counting the Autobots as little more than a weapon to be used against the Decepticons. It was those humans that believed the human race alone could fend off the Decepticon threat.

And perhaps they were right. But at what cost?

The civil war that had effectively crippled and then caused the fatal shutdown of Cybertron had given Optimus a first-hand look at the cost. The loss of countless lives and eventually the downfall of their entire planet...their home.

It was a terrible price to pay, and not one that he wanted the humans to have to pay. And if they wouldn't listen to them, then Optimus could only hope that they would listen to another human. One that had seen the destruction that the Decepticons were capable of, and that the Autobots were here to help.

Sam, however, believed otherwise. He didn't think that anybody would listen to him. He'd argued that he was simply a student and that he had his own problems to deal with. While Optimus couldn't deny that Sam did have his own life to go through, he wished that Sam hadn't discounted how valuable he could be to aiding the Autobots.

And now there was Sophie.

Mikaela had steadfastly stayed by Sam's side, and while Optimus could give credit to her loyalty, it also put her at a great risk. While Mikaela may have been willing to accept that risk, Optimus was a little more reluctant to put another human life on the line. But both Sam and Mikaela had insisted that she aid Sam, and Optimus had eventually relented.

And now Sam had brought another of his human allies. Sam had claimed Sophie could help their cause from a more technical standpoint, and while Optimus had no reason to doubt Sam's claims, Sophie was another human life put at a great risk. Sam, Mikaela, and the members of the N.E.S.T. army had acknowledged the risk they were at, Optimus wasn't sure about Sophie.

Humans had an incredible trait for being blindly optimistic.

As Sam and Epps continued to talk, Optimus tried to ignore the guilt gnawing at his conscious. He hated putting Sam in the position of "alien ambassador," as Sam had put it, but Optimus saw little alternative.

Glancing over, Optimus saw Sophie sitting on top of a stack of boxes, working on her small communication device. She seemed enamored with the thing. Optimus could understand being intrigued by a piece of technology, but Sophie seemed to take that to a whole new level. Even Q hadn't been that fascinated by any one piece of technology.

Walking over, Optimus started to speak to pull Sophie out of her fixation, but before he could say anything, she noticed him and spoke without even looking up.

"How can I help you, Big Boss?"

Sophie looked up slowly, sliding her cell phone shut. Optimus studied her expression for a few moments before continuing. She looked almost defeated, but was at least far calmer than she had been when she had spoke to Optimus earlier.

"Are you feeling any better?"

Blinking quickly, Sophie stared at Optimus, looking quite confused.

"Come again?"

"You were upset earlier. Or at least, when you spoke to me, you were."

"And you're...concerned about how I feel?"

"Yes."

Again, Sophie paused.

"I'm feeling better. Still kind of sore, but prolly not as sore as 'ole uh...uh...ah shit, I gotta' get this right. He's going to shoot me if I get his name wrong one more time. Iron...Iron..."

"Ironhide."

"Right. Ironhide. Thanks. He's prolly in a whole world of hurt and I'm just...sore. Actually isn't the first time I've staggered and fallen down a street." Sophie paused and looked over at Sam. "Though I think I ticked Witwicker off."

"Perhaps. Although interrupting his conversation with Mikaela may not have been the most advisable of course of action."

"Yeah, you're right." Sophie looked away for a few moments, then looked back up at Optimus. "You were really concerned about whether or not I was feeling better?"

"Yes. I also wanted to ask you if still wanted to remain here after having seen what the Decepticons are capable of."

"Here? As in the city? Where would I go? What would I do for college? What would I do for a place to live?"

"I am sure that N.E.S.T. could assist you with the necessary arrangements for you and, if required, your parents. And, if the Decepticons persisted-"

"Yeeeah, parents...uh...my parents almost had an aneurism when they found out I got my lip pierced. Pretty sure if I showed up with a semi truck that transformed into a giant alien robot, they'd either die of heart attacks right then and there or make me wish I'd just let a Decepticon eat me."

Optimus started to interject that a Decepticon was far more likely to simply shoot a human as opposed to eat it, but decided the argument wasn't worth it.

"Besides," Sophie continued. "It'd be a pretty lousy thing of me to do if I just up and left Sam at the mercy of the Decepticons and his depraved Computer Science professor. Can Decepticons pretend to be humans? Like...holographs or something? That would explain so many of my professors."

"It is possible," Optimus answered. "Though we use what is called a holomatter projection. It is far more stable and reliable than a holograph."

"Really? Can you actually...like move stuff?"

"If necessary, yes."

"So...the holomatter is what you'd look like if you were a human?"

"It is based more upon the user's preference, but some of the user's characteristics and traits can carry over to the holomatter projection. They are very rarely used, however."

"Did you ever think to try and use that to talk to humans?"

"Yes. Unfortunately our understanding of your human government, and the fact that humans are quite aware of our presence on Earth, makes communication...difficult."

"If it's any consolation, the government doesn't listen to me at all. In fact, they kind of do what they want."

"I appreciate the empathy, though I am not sure if it is a consolation," Optimus answered.

"Uh...it was meant to be a joke, Big Boss," Sophie said after realizing she'd been taken seriously. "You know...trying to lighten the mood?"

After a pause, Optimus smiled faintly. Sophie laughed and shook her head.

"Yeah, I'm not going anywhere. Between you needing to learn how to laugh every now and then and Sam needing to be saved from every computer in the vicinity, I'm going to have my work cut out for me."

()

Around two 'o clock, Sam announced he had to go back to the dorms to grab a couple of things before heading to the airport to meet Mikaela. After complaining as to how creepy it felt to ride around in Bumblebee and how she felt like some sort of unwanted pet, Sophie reluctantly accompanied Sam back to the dorms. She stayed at the end of the hallway, glaring at random people as they passed by, or giving them her best barracuda grin.

Sophie wasn't exactly keen on seeing Sam's dorm room. Especially since he split it with that weirdo Leo. Sophie had only encountered Leo a couple of times, save for that party where Sophie had had her hand crushed, and in a computer class that she and Leo had together. Leo talked too much for Sophie's liking, and he only knew what he was talking about half the time he spoke up. In any case, Sophie was more than happy to avoid Leo as much as possible.

Looking up, Sophie caught a glance of Sam going into the dorm, looking as though he was having another of his freakouts. He was closely followed by Leo and the blonde haired girl, Alice, who stood outside the doorway. Leo looked extremely upset, while Alice seemed far too calm for the situation. Sophie immediately began walking down the hallway towards the two, stopping when she saw Alice shove Leo out of the way and go into the dorm room. Blinking and standing there, not quite sure what to do, Sophie chewed on her lip ring.

At the sight of Mikaela coming up the opposite end of the hallway, Sophie froze.

"Oh...somebody's gonna' be in trouble," Sophie muttered. Taking in a deep breath and reminding herself that she liked Sam enough to do this, Sophie put on the biggest smile she could manage. "MIKAELA!"

Almost everybody in the hallway, including Mikaela, jumped at Sophie's shriek. Mikaela looked over at Sophie, looking extremely confused. She smiled in confusion, and waved weakly. Sophie sprinted forward, sliding the last foot and putting herself between the door and Mikaela.

"Mikaela! It's so nice to see you, Mikaela!" Sophie shouted with the best enthusiasm she could fake. She leaned against the door, doing her best to be heard through the door. "So your flight worked out, Mikaela, huh? How're you feeling, Mikaela?"

"It...it went fine. Are you okay? You're acting really weird."

"Me? Oh, Mikaela, I'm fine, thank you for asking!"

"Okay, look, you're really acting strange, but I need to see Sam. Is he in there?"

"Uh...maybe?"

Pushing past Sophie, Mikaela opened the door, almost making Sophie fall onto her back. The expression on Mikaela's face made Sophie turn around quickly, and she stopped, making a quiet "oh" noise. Alice was practically lying on top of Sam, and Sam was looking extremely flustered and horrified.

"Is that your girlfriend?" Alice asked.

"Ex," Mikaela replied. She quickly turned and walked away without another word.

Sophie looked at Sam with a mix of disappointment and confusion, then chased after Mikaela. She could hear Sam yelling at Mikaela.

"Mikaela!" Sophie said. "Wait up!"

"You were protecting him and that little...trollop!" Mikaela snapped, glaring at Sophie.

"No! I really didn't know that he was doing...that," Sophie replied quickly. "Sam's been acting really strange, lately, too. He may not be thinking completely."

"He's not thinking at all!" Mikaela hissed. "He-"

A loud commotion of noise stopped the two in mid argument. It sounded like Sam's dorm room was being torn apart. The two darted back to Sam's dorm and Mikaela yanked the door open to have Sam crash into her. Behind him, Alice's eyes glowed a bright blue and she lashed out at the two with what appeared to be her tongue attached to a centipede like extension of metal. Sophie barely avoided being hit by it herself, and she looked over at Sam.

"Your taste in women is getting worse," she said quickly.

Sam gave her an angry glare, but didn't have time to answer before Alice lunged at them. Mikaela swung the metal box she had been carrying, knocking Alice back, but it only deterred her momentarily.

"Run!" Sam yelled.

As the trio sprinted down the hallway, they grabbed a very confused Leo, almost dragging him along with them. Behind them, Alice was already giving pursuit, a predatory look on her placid face. She effortlessly tossed aside a student that was unfortunate enough to get in her way, and as they dashed into the library, Sophie leaned out the door just long enough to flip Alice off with the same hand that Alice had almost crushed a few nights earlier.


	12. Chapter 12

Scrambling behind the tall bookshelves in the library, Mikaela shot Sam an accusing glare.

"I can tell you really missed me a lot, Sam!" she hissed.

"Look, it's not my fault, okay?" Sam retorted in a strained whisper.

"It's not your fault?"

"Listen, listen! I am a victim, here!"

Sophie watched the two argue warily, but was also quite concerned about the library being blasted away around them. Leo was still trying to recover from being borderline dragged down the hallway.

"Oh my god, oh my god, I can't believe I almost had sex with her in a dream!" he cried.

Sophie stared at Leo for a few split seconds, then turned her attention back to Sam and Mikaela, who were still arguing angrily.

"You were a victim? A victim of what?" Mikaela snapped. "A little eighty pound girl?"

"It was like getting humped in the throat by a mountain ox!" Sam answered angrily.

Sophie felt her stomach lurch and she gagged slightly. It didn't help when Leo started trying to get Sam to vomit up the "alien babies" that Alice had undoubtedly placed inside Sam's stomach.

"The aliens...they want me because of my site!" Leo muttered.

"Oh that is the biggest crock of-"

Sophie's retort was cut off when another blast ripped through the library.

"Whoa, whoa!" Sam yelled. "Run!"

They sprinted through the library, pages and pieces of book covers flying through the air as Alice, now looking like some sort of maniacal, mechanical mannequin, tore through the library.

"I knew she was way too strong to be some sort of little bleach blonde bimbo!" Sophie shrieked, ducking as two encyclopedias flew over her head.

"You can't give hair advice to anybody!" Mikaela snapped back, jumping over a broken chair.

"Keep running!" Sam yelled.

They finally escaped the library.

"We've got to get that box!" Mikaela shouted, snatching up the giant metal box she had hurled at Alice. She then turned to Sophie. "Get me a car!"

Looking over her shoulder, Sophie spotted a minivan. She grabbed the driver by the shoulders and practically threw him away from the vehicle.

"I need this!" she yelled at the driver. "Hope you have insurance!"

Mikaela jumped into the driver's seat, with Sam quickly climbing into the passenger's seat. Leo and Sophie leapt into the back, both watching as Mikaela fought to hot-wire the car.

"You know how to hot-wire a car?" Leo asked incredulously. "That is so hot..."

"Dude, seriously! It's called a blow up doll! Get one and get over yourself," Sophie grumbled.

Leo shot Sophie a glare, but was cut short when Alice jumped onto the hood of the car and began to punch through the windshield.

"Shit! Drive, drive, drive!" Sophie screamed, quickly beating the back of the driver's seat.

Backing the minivan up quickly, Mikaela then changed gears and the vehicle tore down the street, swerving as Mikaela desperately tried to knock Alice off the front of the minivan. Alice, however, tenaciously stayed on the hood of the minivan, smashing her fists against the hood and the windshield.

"Whoa! Tongue!" Sam yelled, ducking down as Alice's tongue extension broke through the glass.

"Kiss this, bitch!" Mikaela snarled, slamming the car and Alice into a light pole. The impact snapped Alice in half in a spray of sparks, and Mikaela quickly backed the minivan up and began driving down the street.

Sophie was clinging to the armrest on the door of the minivan and it took her a few minutes to realize that Leo was tightly clinging to her. Rolling her eyes and snorting angrily, Sophie shoved Leo away.

"Get off me, pervert!" she hissed.

"Sorry, I just...you know...I get nervous when I see my life flash before my eyes," Leo replied quickly.

"Well then you ought to be pants-pissingly terrified now!" Sophie threatened. She could hear Sam trying to catch Mikaela up on what was going on, and she was more concerned about possibly punching Leo's face in.

Suddenly, with an ear-splittingly loud explosion, the glass of the windows shattered as a hook punched through the side of the minivan and hoisted the van up into the air rapidly. Sophie was slammed against Leo, and the passenger door, already weak from Alice beating on the minivan, ripped free. With a horrified yell, Sam grabbed the seat and the armrest of the seat, trying to keep himself from hurtling to the ground below.

"Sam!" Mikaela shrieked.

"Pull me up! Pull me up!" Sam cried in panic, clawing at the armrest.

Mikaela frantically tried to get a hold of Sam, while Leo and Sophie struggled to reach Sam. Leo yelped as Sophie's right elbow dug into his ribs, but he still reached for Sam, grabbing Sam's shirt. Sophie managed to snag Sam's belt, holding on as tightly as she could. They were so fixated on trying to rescue Sam from falling that they didn't pay much heed to the helicopter that had speared the minivan and was flying them high over the city. The dull roar of the chopper blades drown out most of their screaming and yelling, but they managed to haul Sam back into the relative safety of the minivan.

"I don't want to die!" Leo screamed, clinging to Sophie once again.

This time, Sophie didn't really care.

A groan of metal and a sudden feeling of being weightless quickly got their attention, however, and Sophie looked around wildly in terror.

"Guys!" Sophie shrieked. "Guys! We're going down!"

"Shit!" Mikaela cried, keeping her tight grip on Sam and the steering wheel.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Sam yelled quickly.

The four of them screamed in unison as the minivan was dropped the rest of the way into an abandoned warehouse. The impact jarred all of them violently, barbs of pain hitting them, and Sam and Mikaela were both smacked in the face as the airbags exploded from the dashboard. As the minivan came to a rest, Sophie and Leo, Sophie still inadvertently pinning Leo to the door of the minivan, winced and coughed, while Sam and Mikaela struggled to push the airbags out of their faces.

"Oh god..."

Sam's whisper of horror made Sophie look up, and she felt her insides turn to icewater. Staring at them was something that Sophie could only describe as a living nightmare. Malevolent, red optics glared at them, a mouth full of razor teeth that was pulled into a slight, terrifying grin, and a hulking, monstrous metal frame.

"Megatron," Mikaela rasped.

"Come here, boy," the mechanical nightmare ordered.

"Okay, okay," Sam said, slowly climbing out of the minivan.

"Closer."

"Okay."

"You remember me, don't you?" Megatron rumbled viciously.

"Look, I did what you said," Sam replied nervously, holding his hands up. "Just don't hurt us."

With a snarl, Megatron knocked Sam off the ledge that the minivan had crashed onto and to the floor below. There was a dull crack as Sam hit the floor, two of the bolts punching against his back. Sam gasped and wheezed, groaning in agony as he fought to regain his breath.

Off to the right, another one of the metal monsters slinked forward. He was nowhere near as big or hulking as Megatron, and his color scheme seemed to be more tan and sand colored than black, but he still had the same, malevolent expression, and seemed all too happy to have four little humans cornered.

"Sam!" Mikaela cried.

"Leave him alone, asshole!" Sophie shrieked.

Megatron looked up, scowling at Sophie. The other robot snickered hoarsely, and the sound reminded Sophie of the back of a hammer being dragged across sheet metal. Megatron's scowl made Sophie freeze, her heart stopping for a few moments. For a few minutes, Megatron said nothing, then he slammed his fist against the concrete ledge, sending rocks and bits of concrete into the air.

"Silence, you pathetic fleshling!" He then looked at the other robot with the same scowl. "If you do not silence your pathetic sniggering, Starscream, I will rip your voice modulator out myself."

Sophie yelped and cringed back. She felt like a total coward, and there was a small voice yelling at her and berating her for not doing more, but she had no idea what to do. What was she going to do? Charge the giant metal nightmare from Hell? Throw rocks at him? At this point, her idea of saying disparaging remarks about this monster's mother seemed nothing short of ludicrous.

Megatron had already turned his attention back to Sam, and was now crushing Sam's arms with his claws.

"It feels good to grab your flesh! I am going to kill you slowly, painfully...but first, we have delicate business to attend to." Megatron laughed demonically, then he regarded Sam with something that could only be described as smoldering hatred. "I could snap your limbs so easily... Doctor, examine the specimen."

A small, rather maniacal looking robot skittered forward and began inspecting Sam as though he was some sort of science experiment on a tray. He was muttering to himself, making slightly disgusted noises as he pulled on Sam's eyelids. Sam, on the other hand, was trying not to get pulled apart piece by little piece by the tiny robot.

"I'm the doctor! The odd job. Information!" the small robot chattered. Even the small ones sounded nothing short of hellacious.

The small robot produced a slimy, revolting looking little mechanical creature that quickly slid into Sam's nose. Mikaela, Leo, and Sophie had about the same expression, their faces scrunched up. Leo gagged a little while Mikaela watched on in helpless concern. They didn't notice Sophie swallowing hard, but picking up two small pieces of the concrete that had been knocked free by Megatron's fist.

"There they are..."

"That's what I'm seeing in my head," Sam exclaimed quietly as the mechanical creature that had been through his thoughts began to project symbols that it had combed from Sam's mind.

"Those symbols will lead us right to the Energon source."

A small piece of concrete sailed through the air and harmlessly pinged off of the side of Megatron's head. Though the piece of concrete itself was no bigger than a baseball, the sound it made seemed louder than a rampaging bull in a china shop. Everybody paused, even Megatron and Starscream. This time, Starscream didn't laugh. All eyes and optics were on Sophie, who was still holding another piece of concrete. Leo scooted away from her slightly, his eyes the size of dinner plates.

Megatron, who had been hunched over and watching the "doctor" and Sam, slowly turned to Sophie, keeping Sam pinned to the floor. Sophie stood up as tall as she possibly could. If she was going to get squished, she might as well try to make it look as epic as possible.

"Uh...guys?" Sam called. "What's going on?"

There was no answer until Megatron began to chuckle dryly. He was the only one laughing, although Starscream attempted to join in with his own, nervous chuckle.

"Starscream," Megatron ordered. "I want the doctor to examine this little...fleshling next. There may be use for somebody so foolhardy."

Never mind he was bigger than most yachts that Sophie had seen, Starscream moved quickly, snatching Sophie up. Sophie shrieked and futilely punched against Starscream's bone crushing grip. She only hurt herself in the process, and in her frustration hurled the other piece of concrete at Starscream. This one actually dinged just below his left optic, and Starscream cried out as though he had been blinded.

"This human almost hit my eye!" he yelled at Megatron.

"Quit your whining before I remove both your eyes!" Megatron snapped back furiously. "Do with that human what you will, but keep her alive."

The order only made Sophie panic more, and this time she struggled with renewed vigor.

Leo and Mikaela watched on helplessly. The only thing they could have done Sophie had already proven was a very bad idea.

"Hey! Hey!" Sam yelled, trying to fight against Megatron's claws pinning him down. "Leave her alone! I'm doing what you asked."

"I do not seem to recall being pelted with annoying rocks to be part of the deal," Megatron hissed.

Starscream, meanwhile, seemed to be taking great delight in tossing Sophie around. While he was careful not to drop her, lest he get unwanted optical surgery from Megatron, Starscream had to admit there was a bit of fun to be had in watching Sophie struggle to get back on her feet each time she landed in his palm, and her whimpering and yelping was nothing short of music to Starscream.

"We must have his brain on the table!" the tiny robot declared loudly, producing a whizzing saw blade. "Chop, chop!"

"My brain?" Sam asked nervously. At the sight of the saw blade, he immediately began to try and shrink back as much as possible. "What does he mean by my brain?"

"Well, you have something on your mind. Something I need."

"Hold on. I know you're pissed. I know you're pissed because I tried to kill you and it's completely understandable. If somebody tried to kill me, I'd be upset, too," Sam reasoned quickly, scrunching his face slightly as the whirring saw blade drew even closer. "I think that we have an opportunity here to start anew and develop our relationship and see where it leads us, okay? So you just call Doctor Inspector off and let's just talk for five seconds!" The saw blade began to nick at his forehead. "Wait, wait, wait!"

One of the walls of the building suddenly gave way and crumbled as Optimus Prime charged through, gun already at the ready. Bumblebee crashed through an adjacent wall, cannon humming with charged energy.

The cavalry had arrived.


	13. Chapter 13

"Sam! Run!" Optimus ordered, taking a shot at Megatron.

The Decepticon leader managed to avoid the blast, but barely, as it grazed across his left shoulder, sending sparks and bits of metal into the air. Bumblebee quickly trained his arm cannon on Starscream, who was dangling Sophie upside down over a precariously long fall to the concrete ground below.

"'Don't do anything, stupid, man,'" Bumblebee warned with a quip from a radio show. "'Don't do anything, stupid.'"

"Shoot him, Bee!" Sophie shrieked, trying to reach up and hit Starscream's hand with her fists. "Shoot him right in his fugly face!"

"Go ahead, Autobot!" Starscream taunted. "Shoot and your little human will look like she's gone through a trash compactor!"

Bumblebee hesitated, then turned his arm cannon on Megatron, firing three quick blasts at the Decepticon leader. Two struck Megatron squarely in the chest, and the third hit him in the abdomen, causing him to stagger back. It was enough time to let Optimus slam his shoulder into Starscream's back, who staggered forward and lost his grip on Sophie. With a shriek, she plummeted to the floor, but Optimus shoved Starscream out of the way and lunged forward, catching Sophie before she hit the concrete floor.

Looking quite startled, Sophie glanced up at Optimus, who was already setting her on the platform towards the door that led out of the building.

"Thanks," Sophie said quickly.

"You're welcome. Now...run!" Optimus turned his attention back to Megatron, who tackled the Autobot leader and crashed him against the wall, glass and loose metal crashing down from the ceiling.

"Go, go, go!" Sam yelled as the building shuddered once more as Optimus hurled Megatron against the adjacent wall.

The four humans scrambled out of the building, and were quickly met by both Bumblebee and Optimus, who transformed back to their vehicle modes. While Sam leapt into the cab of the Peterbilt semi truck, Mikaela, Leo, and Sophie scrabbled into the waiting, yellow Camaro. As the two Autobots sped off from the building, Megatron tore through the brick and metal as though it was nothing more than tissue paper. Starscream shot through the ceiling in a spray of glass and both Decepticons immediately gave pursuit.

"Bumblebee, we need to split up!" Optimus ordered over the comm link. "Get those humans to safety! I'll take care of Sam."

Bumblebee chirped in response and immediately sent out a distress call to all the other Autobots. They were back at the base and it would take some time before they would be able to assist, but Bumblebee knew Optimus was going to need all the backup he could get as he saw both Starscream and another Decepticon, under the guise of an attack helicopter, tore through the air towards Optimus's location.

"Wait! Why are we going this way?" Sophie yelled from her seat in the back. "Bee! We can't leave them!"

"What are we going to do, huh?" Leo shouted back from the passenger's seat. "We almost got crushed back there!"

"We can't just fucking leave them, you idiot!" Sophie shrieked, lunging forward and grabbing Leo's neck.

"Whoa, whoa!" Mikaela cried, reaching over from the driver's seat and prying Sophie's hands off Leo's neck. "We can't help them right now, Sophie! And choking this guy isn't going to help! ...even though it may make you feel better."

"We can't leave them!" Sophie repeated shrilly. She looked in panic at Bumblebee's dashboard. "Get Ironsides or whatever the hell his name is on the horn! Get the guy with the biggest guns out there!"

"We're already on our way!" Ironhide shouted back over the comm link. His gruff voice made all three humans start slightly. "And for the final, slagging time! It's IRONHIDE!"

Both Leo and Mikaela looked at Sophie, who sat back slowly in her seat. Mikaela gave Sophie a questioning look.

"Why can't you remember his name?" she hissed.

"I don't know...I may just need to stick with calling him 'ole cannon-arms at this rate," Sophie grumbled. She kicked the seat dejectedly, which quickly earned an angry honk from Bumblebee. "Sorry! Sorry, Bee, sorry!"

"You're just pissing off all the alien robots today, aren't you?" Leo asked in annoyance.

"Hey! I will twist your neck shut!" Sophie threatened.

There was a sudden, loud distress call that blasted from the speakers and Bumblebee slammed on the brakes, swinging around on the street.

"What was that?" Mikaela cried.

"'Trouble!'" Bumblebee chirped from the radio as he sped back towards where Optimus and Sam and driven off to.

"Oh no...," Mikaela whispered, biting her bottom lip in worry.

()

He hadn't even noticed Megatron. His focus had been solely on Sam and Sam's well-being. Optimus hadn't even noticed Megatron...until the Decepticon had driven the blade through his back. The blade exited through Optimus's chest, ripping through metal and sending every warning system Optimus had into high alert.

His life support system screamed at him and Optimus grabbed the blade weakly, trying to somehow free himself from the impalement.

Megatron, however, had other ideas.

"This is the end, Prime," he hissed maniacally.

For a few split seconds, everything went quiet. The life support system's blaring shriek was muted, the frantic beeping of his structural system became little more than a soft ping, and even the agonizing pain that wracked his frame dulled momentarily. Optimus felt his spark shudder in shock, the casing around it cracked and damaged.

And then came the blinding pain as the energy blast from Megatron's weapon shredded through Optimus's already wounded chest. His systems began to fail rapidly, and Optimus felt the power fade from his body. His hands fell from the blade and he felt Megatron wrench the blade free, but there was no pain. His life support system was shutting down, and all sensory systems had gone offline.

Falling to his knees, Optimus pitched forward, collapsing to the ground. His optics already starting to dim, he looked up and saw Sam looking at him in panic-stricken horror. Struggling to support himself on his arm, feeling his shoulder weakening rapidly.

"Sam...," Optimus coughed, hearing one last internal beep from his life support system. "...run. Run..."

Optimus's life support system finally shut down completely and his optics dimmed, a cold, unforgiving darkness taking the world around him.

Mollified, Sam staggered back, realizing that the Decepticons were closing in on him. He darted back out of the forest, guilt eating at him as he left Optimus's body behind. Fortunately, he was met by the rest of the Autobots, who immediately opened fire at the Decepticons, fury fueling their attacks at the sight of their fallen leader.

Bumblebee drove up, the passenger door swinging open. Leo scrambled to the back of the car as Sam crawled in.

"Where's Optimus?" Mikaela asked quietly.

"Yeah, where's Big Boss?" Sophie echoed, leaning forward.

Sam said nothing, simply leaning forward and putting his head in his hands miserably.

"Sam?" Mikaela asked in worry, lightly putting a hand on Sam's back.

Sophie glanced out the window at the retreating Decepticons and caught a glimpse of Ratchet and Ironhide slowly approaching Optimus's fallen body. Sophie felt her insides go cold and she looked at Sam quickly before looking back at the Autobots.

"What's wrong with him?" Sophie asked, her tone starting to edge on panicked. "Sam! What's wrong with him? He's getting back up, right?"

"I don't know!" Sam finally yelled in frustration. "Megatron...Megatron hurt him...bad."

Sophie and Leo stared out the window as the Autobots carefully began clearing away some of the debris and fallen trees.

"...he looks bad," Leo muttered. "...damn...poor guy."

Sophie said nothing, watching Ironhide as he gave orders to the Autobots. He looked up and caught her stare, and for the first time, Sophie saw Ironhide's gruff demeanor waver a little as his shoulders fell and he shook his head slowly.

Ironhide saw the dawning horror on Sophie's face, but had to turn his attention to Ratchet when the medic spoke.

"He's alive...but barely," Ratchet said somberly. "The blast damaged his spark casing, and his spark itself is losing power. We could put him into stasis lock, but that would take centuries...maybe even longer, for his body to repair itself."

"We don't have that long," Ironhide muttered, looking at the sky apprehensively. "Radio Lennox, let him know what has happened." Ironhide activated his comm link. "Bumblebee, get the humans to safety. We're in for a rough fight."

()

The flurry of news reports and urgent news broadcasts almost caused a total network collapse, and in some, more rural areas of the world, networks went down for maintenance as they couldn't keep up with the flood of information.

The military, however, was monitoring the entire situation closely, trying to figure out how one of their carriers had suddenly been sunk to the bottom of the ocean in a frighteningly short amount of time. Officers were scrambling to find reports from the carrier before it went down, and as they began to determine what exactly had happened, televisions around the world began to hiss and crackle as their reception was hijacked.

What appeared on the screens was nothing short of a nightmare. Burning red optics, a diabolic looking faceplate, and a voice that reverberated through the air, the Fallen's disdain for humanity and arrogance at the last Prime being dealt with dripped from his acidic voice.

"Citizens of the human hive, your leaders have withheld the truth. You are not alone in this universe. We have lived among you, hidden, but no more. As you've seen, we can destroy your cities at will, unless you turn over this boy. If you resist us, we will destroy the world as you know it."

The officers were frozen in place, realizing the potential for widespread panic and chaos. Not to mention that any secrecy that was left of the Autobots and Decepticons was long gone. And now there would be a worldwide manhunt for Sam Witwicky.

The whole thing had just gone to Hell in a handbasket.

()

When Sam saw his photo flash across the television, his stomach did a meek little flop and he sat down miserably on a flight of stairs. Bumblebee had driven them to an abandoned warehouse, which, at the moment, was as safe as any other place.

"You need to listen to this, man," Leo said quickly, his eyes glued to his smartphone. "You gotta check this out."

Leo shoved his smartphone in Sam's face as the news continued to repeat how every single government agency was hunting for Sam.

"We're dead, bro. FBI, CIA, we are wanted fugitives now!"

"Oh shut it, you moron," Sophie hissed from the top of the stairs. "The CIA's been breathing down my neck for years. Stop being such a drama queen."

"I'm sorry, but am I the only one concerned about the fact that not only do we have the government hunting us, but giant alien robots want us dead, too?" Leo looked at Sam quickly. "Dude, I don't think your little punk chick friend gets it, but you gotta' focus for just one second!"

"Just stop!" Sam interrupted. He glared at Leo's phone and snatched it out of his hand. "Give me that." Sam hurled the phone across the building. Catching Leo's confused look, Sam explained his sudden flinging of the cell phone. "Satellites! They can track us!"

Leo looked at Sophie accusingly, knowing she had a phone. Sophie lifted up what looked to be a smart phone that had met the business end of a blender. She looked at Leo with an annoyed look.

"You know, for a guy that runs a website about aliens, you sure don't seem paranoid enough." Sophie sighed and rested her head in her hands. "Doesn't matter, anyways. They've got tracking that can see the print on newspapers from outer space. And that's the old days. There's cameras everywhere. Big Brother isn't just a crappy television show, dingus."

Realization seemed to dawn on Leo and he looked between Sam and Sophie quickly.

"Look...I'm not even with you guys," he started slowly. "I mean, technically, I'm a victim of kidnapping."

"You're about to be a victim of a brutal, physical assault, you yellow-bellied ass," Sophie growled, storming down the stairs.

"Enough is enough," Sam sighed, walking outside where Mikaela was with Bumblebee. Mudflap and Skids were arguing between themselves, but as Leo began to follow Sam, mostly to get away from Sophie, they quickly turned their attention.

"I'm like a hostage, Sam," Leo reasoned.

"Yo, Leo!"

Leo yelped and jumped away. He glared at the twins, clutching at his chest.

"That thing's going to give me a heart attack..."

"That's 'cause you is a wuss," Skids answered quickly.

Sophie stalked out of the warehouse, still favoring Leo with a burning scowl.

"Whoa, watch out!" Mudflap shouted slightly. Both twins took a step back, holding their hands up sarcastically.

"You been hangin' around 'ole Ironhide too much, girl," Skids commented.

Sophie looked up at Skids in annoyance, but said nothing. She had to admit, she was kind of wondering how the gruff Autobot was doing. Granted, she'd only spoken to him a bit, and the most time they'd spent together was him saving her from being squished by Decepticons, but there was something to be said for a guy that was willing to take a plasma blast for you. Not to mention it was pretty impressive to have cannons the size of Volkswagens mounted on your wrists...

The twins continued to harass Leo, while Mikaela tried to comfort Sam. Sophie crouched down in front of Sam, looking up at him through her mess of dust and rust spattered bleach blonde hair.

"You okay, Sam?" she asked quietly.

Mikaela started to say something in a sharp retort, but stopped when she realized that Sophie was being sincere. Sam looked at Sophie morosely, then forced a half-hearted smile.

"Just can't believe he's gone," Sam muttered.

"He may not be totally gone," Sophie reasoned slowly, trying to sound as confident as possible even though she was lying like a rug. "I mean, computers get beat up and bashed up but you can still patch them up and fix them and they'll run just as good as new. And those guys...robots...thingees are kind of like walking computers, yeah?"

"Hey! We're Trans-form-ers!" Mudflap corrected. "More specifically, Autobots."

Sophie pursed her lips slightly, biting back a snarky comment and looking at Sam, pleading with him with her eyes to tell the twins to shut their yaps.

Fortunately, Bumblebee must have noticed Sophie's look, because his radio began to play "Silence is Golden."

"Thank you, Bee," Sophie said sweetly.

Ignoring Mudflap's disdainful snort, Bumblebee purred his engine softly in response, and Sam rolled his eyes and gave Sophie a pointed look.

"What? You couldn't stand the Autobots two days ago but now you're all buddy-buddy with them?"

"Well...a lot has happened in two days. Particularly the part where my ass...and the rest of me, got saved from not one, but two Decepticons."

"And the fact that he hasn't stomped on you for messing up his name every time," Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, that, too," Sophie sighed dejectedly.

"Why do you have such a problem with his name, anyways?" Mikaela asked

"I have no idea," Sophie cried, throwing her hands up. "It's just two words mashed together, but it's like my brain just decides to always mess his name up when I try to say it! I think I've only gotten his name right once."

"Wow...I'd hate to think what she'd do with Bumblebee's name," Mikaela mumbled.

"Nope, it's just Ironhide," Sam replied. "He's the lucky one to have to deal with Sophie's apparent name pronouncing disability."

Crossing her arms, Sophie pouted for a few minutes before standing up and kicking a small rock aside, grumbling something about "Hooked On Phonics."

After calling the twins "bumper cars," Leo turned his still panicked attention to Sam.

"Listen, Sam, I know what I'm gonna do, man. Look, I'm just going to go to the authorities and tell them the truth. Like, I had nothing to do with this."

"You're going to turn us in?" Sophie snapped.

"You wanted the real deal? Well, that's what this is," Sam cried, standing up and jabbing a finger at Leo's chest. "Wake up! You're in the middle of it! You want to run? Go ahead! No one's stopping you."

Leo paused, looking between Sam, Mikaela, and Sophie. Even the twins had fallen silent, watching Leo with what appeared to be the closest thing to disappointment they could muster. His expression was a mixture of desperation, frustration, and exhaustion. He looked at Sophie, almost pleadingly.

"You're in the same boat I am!" he reasoned. "You got roped into this against your will, didn't you?"

"Not really," Sophie replied. "I agreed to help Sam. He's my friend. You know...somebody you help out and you stick beside because it's, I don't know...the right thing to do."

Stopping, Leo sighed and hung his head. There was no winning this fight and he knew it.


	14. Chapter 14

()

After about thirty minutes, Leo had calmed down enough to pace back and forth slowly along the wall of the building. It was warm enough outside that they were outside the old building, a small fire in a barrel started courtesy of the lighter that Sophie had managed to produce. Mikaela was sitting on an old chair behind Sam, who was seated on the ground, and even the twins had resigned themselves to quietly bickering rather than trying to club each other with the nearest heavy object.

Sighing, Sophie sat down on an old cinder block.

"You know," she grumbled, "there are times I really regret having given up smoking."

Mikaela rolled her eyes, but Sam shot Sophie a disapproving look.

"You know that stuff kills you," he quipped quickly. "Turns your lungs into charcoal briquettes."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Sophie muttered, kicking aside a small rock. "That's why I gave it up in the first place. That and it's expensive as hell."

"So see? You're a healthier and richer person now that you quit. Don't you feel better already?"

Sophie gave Sam a look that was a mix of deadpan and angry exasperation. She waved her hand around her face quickly.

"Look at this face. Does this look like a face of a healthier and richer person? No. This is the face of a coffee deprived, nicotine craving person who is currently thirty thousand dollars in debt courtesy of trying to get a higher education."

"But that's also the face of a person that can probably run farther than you could when you were smoking," Sam countered quickly.

Mikaela smirked faintly at the two's back and forth bantering, while Leo was talking to himself. Whether he was trying to calm his nerves or he was having a psychotic episode was anybody's guess, though.

"Okay, fine, you win on that one," Sophie replied grumpily. She tapped her chin thoughtfully, then cocked her head to one side. "You think I could get my student loans forgiven if I get squished by an alien robot?"

"I don't know," Sam answered with a shrug, smiling half-heartedly. "I don't remember seeing any sort of alien robot clause in the student loan papers, but I'll admit it was more my parents who read the papers, not me."

"Must've been nice," Sophie grumbled. "I had to read all that disgusting fine print and everything. I was tempted to sign my name as-"

"Robowarrior!" Leo suddenly proclaimed.

"What?" Sophie asked, sounding both confused and a little disgusted. "No. I was going to sign my name as-"

"No, no, I meant Robowarrior. He could help us," Leo continued, walking towards the three. "If we could find him, that is."

Sophie and Sam exchanged glances, and Sam looked up at Mikaela, who shrugged.

"Why? Is he some sort of super soldier that's supposed to handle panicky humans, loudmouthed humans, really good looking humans, and humans that seem to manage to piss off the Decepticon leader?" Skids asked, waving his hands around.

"Uh, no," Leo replied. "Though I do appreciate that you guys find me...uh...good looking, as creepy as that sounds."

Both Sophie and Mikaela rolled their eyes, Sophie shaking her head.

"But Robowarrior is the only other guy I know that knows as much about these Transformers, aside from me. If we can find him, we may be able to figure out what to do. Or at least a good place to hide."

"Great, so...let's go talk to him," Sam said, nodding his head.

"That's the thing," Leo replied, rubbing the back of his head quickly. "He's...uh...kind of hard to find."

Without a word, Sam looked over at Sophie, who was flicking her lighter absent-mindedly. She caught Sam's stare and looked around quickly.

"What? What did I miss?" she asked quickly.

"Need you to find somebody," Sam stated, grinning faintly.

"Get me to a computer, I'll see what I can do," Sophie proclaimed, snapping the lighter shut and sliding it back in her pocket.

()

Processor racing and temper flaring, Ironhide looked over at Lennox, who was still shouting into a cell phone. The Autobots had just been placed under "arrest," and while the concept seemed laughable enough, the Autobots had complied, with varying degrees of reluctance.

And while Ironhide had been the one to suggest they remain on Earth and to stand down, he was wrestling with the undying urge to make good on his threat to tear apart the humans stupid enough to point a gun at him. Or, better yet, the one that seemed to be spear heading the whole operation. The one they were calling Theodore Galloway.

He was walking around the base in what could only be called a borderline prance, as though quite pleased with himself. What Galloway failed to realize was that the Autobots were acting only on what they could assume would have been Optimus Prime's wishes, not out of fear of the humans' almost archaic weapons.

Lennox's voice only got louder, frustration rising in his tone. Epps watched from a few feet away, standing at Ironhide's feet. He was there to supposedly keep the Autobots in line, which was laughable enough, and in reality Epps was more there to keep any overly brazen or any overly stupid men working under Galloway's orders from testing Ironhide's patience any further.

"He still yelling into that tiny communication device?" Sideswipe asked, gliding over slowly to the two.

"He's been at it for about twenty minutes now," Epps said, glancing down at his watch. "I don't think the poor sap on the other line knows what they got themselves into. Lennox used to be a drill instructor. He can keep on hollering for hours, if necessary."

"Ratchet has a report on Optimus," Sideswipe muttered quietly to Ironhide.

"And?" Ironhide didn't glance over at the younger Autobot, his gaze staying on Lennox as the soldier paced back and forth furiously. Whatever was being said on the other line, it was not going over well with Lennox.

"Well..."

Sideswipe's hesitation caused Ironhide to look over, and he caught Sideswipe's somewhat questioning glance to Epps. Noticing the silence, Epps looked up and looked between the two Autobots.

"What? Need me to step away for a while?" he asked.

"No," Ironhide interjected quickly. He looked back to Sideswipe. "Go ahead."

"All right," Sideswipe said, shrugging his shoulders uncomfortably. "Ratchet is saying that the damage is far beyond what he can repair here at the base, much less under the new...conditions we're finding ourselves in. Optimus is alive, but barely. It's a total stasis lock and Ratchet's not sure when, or even if, Optimus will come out of it."

Ironhide nodded his head slightly in acknowledgement, but said nothing. He wasn't quite sure what to tell Sideswipe at this point. What was there to say? The Autobots were effectively imprisoned on their own base, while three of their soldiers were out roaming the United States countryside, having to safeguard four humans. Meanwhile, the Autobot's leader was in a stasis lock that there was question he could ever recover from, and the humans that the Autobots had worked so hard to protect seemed dead-set on treating the Autobots as war criminals.

"Damn...," Epps muttered under his breath, hearing Sideswipe's report.

The two Autobots glanced down at the human, and Sideswipe started to say something, but Ironhide stopped him, picking up on the younger Autobot's anger and frustration.

_"Fighting one of the few humans that is on our side will do us no good,"_ Ironhide cautioned, reverting back to their native Cybertronian language. Epps didn't need to know how close some of the Autobots were to taking the base back from their human captors.

_"And if the humans try to remove us from Earth?"_ Sideswipe inquired, his tone bordering on challenging. _"What then?"_

_"We will deal with that accordingly,"_ Ironhide answered back shortly. _"Meanwhile, let's not alienate the only allies we have at this point."_

Sighing and nodding, Sideswipe glanced over at Lennox, who was still arguing over the phone but was now glaring at a soldier unfortunate enough to stare a few minutes too long at the N.E.S.T. soldier.

"Any word from Bumblebee or the twins?" he asked quietly.

"None," Ironhide answered. He was starting to grow uneasy from the silence on Bumblebee's side. While Ironhide didn't trust the twins to report in as far as he could throw them, Bumblebee was typically far more reliable. Ironhide could only hope that the silence just meant that Bumblebee was being extra cautious, given the circumstances.

"Do you think they're still...safe?" Sideswipe inquired, changing the last word of his question at the last minute. He wasn't sure how Ironhide would react to the idea of the humans being captured...or worse.

"They should be. Bumblebee has taken care of the humans, particularly Sam, in the past."

"Right. He just has three other humans to worry about. Not to mention two loud sparklings of Autobots that can't go a mega-cycle without arguing."

Both Ironhide and Epps looked at Sideswipe with exasperated looks, which Sideswipe didn't pick up until after a few minutes. He looked between the two quickly, then sighed and rolled his optics.

"Right, right. I'm surrounded by eternal optimists," he grumbled.

"I'll be sure to pass that along when the Decepticons are crushing us underfoot!" Lennox countered furiously, ending the phone call with a jab at the cellphone's keypad.

"That great, huh?" Epps asked.

"They have no idea what they're doing," Lennox grumbled. He looked over his shoulder at the few people that had stopped and stared at his tirade, and the people quickly dispersed or became enamored with the ceiling. "We're supposed to lock the Autobots up and disarm them."

Epps stared at Lennox in disbelief, then looked up at Ironhide, who had a rather sardonic smirk on his face, and then back to Lennox.

"Right. And who's the one they think is stupid enough to try and take these guys' toys away and then ground them?"

Lennox smiled sarcastically.

"Oh hell no," Epps countered quickly.

"Oh hell yes," Lennox grumbled, rolling his eyes. He looked up at Ironhide. "Give us a minute, will you?"

Ironhide nodded, watching the two humans converse between themselves in quieter tones. Neither seemed willing to approach the Autobots with the idea of disarming them, and Ironhide couldn't blame them, either. Sideswipe studied one of his wrist blades before looking over at Ironhide.

"The humans do know that these blades aren't exactly detachable, right?" he asked nervously.

"Let's hope they do." Ironhide began to walk over to the small workspace that Ratchet had built in the hangar. Soldiers guarded it tightly, but they wisely stepped aside as Ironhide approached. "Because these humans can have my guns when they pry them from my cold dead hands..."

"You've been listening to too many human television transmissions," Sideswipe muttered, shaking his head.

"Maybe."

A muted chirp on Ironhide's comm link quickly snatched his attention.

It was Bumblebee.

"I'll be there in a few moments," he murmured to Sideswipe. Sideswipe looked at the weapons specialist questioningly, to which Ironhide replied, once more, in Cybertronian. _"It's Bumblebee."_

Nodding, Sideswipe continued over to where Ratchet was still working to repair as much of the damage to Optimus Prime that he could. Ironhide stepped off to quieter part of the hangar where there were more N.E.S.T. soldiers as opposed to Galloway's men. Even so, he kept the communication link in Cybertronian.

_"Go ahead, Bumblebee."_

_ "Bumblebee...re-reporting in."_ Bumblebee's voice, his real voice, however static and strained, came through over the comm link.

_"Are you safe? Are the humans safe?"_ Ironhide inquired, glancing around at the humans milling around. They were wisely giving him as much privacy as they could, though a couple seemed to have already taken a couple of lookout spots to alert Ironhide if one of Galloway's men got too close.

_"Affirm-affirmative. All humans...safe-safe and accounted for. All Auto-Autobots safe...accounted for."_

_"Good job, Bumblebee. Keep a close eye on the humans. You no doubt saw the human news reports...and the declaration from the Fallen."_

_ "Yes. Saw...both."_ There was a pause and a quiet roll of static, and then Bumblebee continued. _"Humans attempting...to locate...poss-poss-possible ally. 'Robowarrior.'"_

_ "'Robowarrior?'"_

_ "Affirma-affirmative."_

_ "Sam Witwicky needs to stay out of the public as much as possible,"_ Ironhide cautioned tersely.

_"Sam...staying hidden...with-with Mikaela."_

_ "So who's searching for this Robowarrior?"_

_ "Sophie. Leo."_

Ironhide fell quiet for a few minutes. He still hadn't been able to shake Sophie's horrified look from his memory banks, and he wasn't sure that putting her out in the public was a good idea either. Now whether it was for Sophie's sake or the public's sake, that was anybody's guess...

_"Keep a close eye on those two. Especially Sophie. Do not let her wander off."_

_ "Understood. Sophie, Leo, currently at...coffee shop."_

_ "A coffee shop?" _Ironhide repeated incredulously. Sophie's coffee addiction was going to be the death of her yet.

_"Free internet."_

_"Ah, understood."_ While Ironhide was fairly certain that Bumblebee's answer was supposed to make him feel more at ease about the prospect of the humans being out in the public eye, it didn't do a very good job. Sam may have been the main target of the Fallen, but Sophie or Leo would not be overlooked if the Decepticons were on the hunt. If anything, they would be far more enticing bait. They could be used as bargaining chips.

The idea of a Decepticon using Sophie as some sort of living currency caused Ironhide's temper to flare, and he mentally swore that if any Decepticon was foolish enough to try and get their claws on Sophie, he'd personally tear them apart, bit by bit. The sudden reaction made Ironhide pause for a few moments, but he dismissed the sudden flare up of protectiveness to the fact that he couldn't think of any human that deserved to be captured by the Decepticons.

"Heads up, chief," one of the N.E.S.T. soldiers said suddenly from their makeshift lookout point.

Looking dramatically cross, Galloway stormed through the few N.E.S.T. soldiers that were between him and Ironhide.

"And why isn't this thing disarmed and on lockdown?" Galloway asked, walking up and motioning to Ironhide.

Saying nothing, Ironhide quickly closed the comm link to Bumblebee. Okay, so perhaps there were a few humans that Ironhide wouldn't mind the Decepticons putting the fear of Primus into.

()


	15. Chapter 15

Taking a long drink of the largest latte she could have possibly ordered, Sophie tapped furiously at one of the computers the coffee shop provided. It was a Mac, and while Sophie was pretty sure that it was to appeal to the more sophisticated side of the shop's patrons, it did nothing but frustrate her as she tried to decipher where in the blazes this "Robowarrior" character was.

Leo was standing behind her, wearing a borderline plastic grin, trying to appear like some sort of adoring boyfriend. In reality, he was only succeeding in looking like some sort of creepy stalker that Sophie was utterly oblivious to.

"Could you not breathe right on my shoulder?" Sophie muttered, not looking away from the computer screen.

"You never told me you were so computer proficient," Leo replied, trying to sound suave. "You know some guys find that very attractive in a woman."

"That's amazing. You know what girls don't find attractive? Scars caused by third degree burns you got from a scalding hot latte being poured over your head."

"You know, you might consider switching to decaf," Leo grumbled. "You're a bit uptight."

"I'll switch to decaf the day I die," Sophie answered grimly, scrolling through walls of text. "God you guys talk about alien robots a lot. And some of you sure are full of yourselves."

"Well, I mean, there are some guys out there that think they know everything, and then there-"

"Are more guys that think they know everything," Sophie interrupted. "And then you have to ask a girl for the actual answer."

Leo stopped, giving Sophie an aggravated look.

"You were bottle fed as a child, weren't you?"

"Here's hoping. My mother was a raging alcoholic."

"Oh...sorry," Leo stammered.

"Don't be. I was adopted by my parents when I was, like, seven." Sophie stared intently at the screen as she spoke, scrolling through more text, blinking against the glare of the screen.

"But...you just said your mother..."

"Okay, fine, my foster parents," Sophie answered quickly. "But I call them my parents. They're really cool. They just wanted a daughter, but they didn't want to split up me and my brothers, so they got a daughter and three sons."

"Three? You've got three brothers?"

"Well, that would be what the whole 'and three sons' thing implied."

"You know, you really could afford to-"

"Here we go," Sophie said suddenly, tapping at the computer screen. "You know...we probably could have asked Bumblebee to do this and he would have found this dork's location in less than three seconds."

"Yeah, but then we wouldn't have had this meaningful conversation," Leo argued sarcastically. "And you couldn't have threatened me with lasting scars from your latte."

"Oh I wouldn't have wasted my latte on you," Sophie replied quickly, jotting down the address on the palm of her hand. "I'd get some sort of decaf atrocity to use on you."

"You really need a hug."

"Touch me and bleed," Sophie warned. "Profusely."

The two quickly exited the coffee shop, Sophie still drinking at the latte. They glanced around for Bumblebee, who had been driving around the block slowly. Leo shifted from foot to foot nervously, but Sophie stood rather lazily at the edge of the sidewalk, glancing around at the crowds.

"You know," Sophie mumbled, "there's nothing to say that there aren't more of those shape-shifting bitches wandering around out there. They could be looking at us right now, hunting us like little idiot deer."

"Wait...what?" Leo asked slowly, horror starting to dawn on him.

"You know how that first girl Alice. You were having sex dreams about her, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to forget!" Leo snapped. "But what do you mean, they're hunting us?"

"Well, you had no idea that Alice was some sort of shape-shifting Transformer midget, right?" Sophie asked, taking another drink of coffee to fight the devilish grin that was threatening to spread across her face. "So...what's to say that the person that served this coffee wasn't one of those things? Or maybe the guy that was sitting behind us at the computer?"

Panic grew on Leo's face before he began looking up and down the busy street quickly.

"Where are they?" he cried. "Maybe they got lost? What if that big Decepticon got them?"

"Shhh," Sophie hissed. "Don't yell so loud. You'll give us away."

"But where are they?" Leo hissed.

"I'd say call them, but we don't exactly have phones any more."

"What if they did get caught?"

"Well, then, we're screwed," Sophie grumbled, taking another drink. "Unless you have some sort of death ray squirreled away."

"I think I left that at my dorm," Leo muttered miserably.

"Well, heads up. Here they come...I think. It's a bright yellow vehicle, in any case."

"Really?" Leo asked hopefully. He darted out in front of the yellow car...and almost got run over as the yellow Mustang barely slammed on the brakes in time.

Covering her face with the palm of her hand, Sophie sighed as Leo quickly stammered out an apology to the confused and startled driver of the Mustang. She stepped forward and grabbed Leo by the collar of the shirt before smiling at the driver of the Mustang.

"He forgot his meds this morning!" she called out to the driver before dragging Leo back to the sidewalk. "Are you nuts? Are you trying to get flattened?"

"I thought it was them," Leo mumbled.

"They're right there," Sophie replied, pointing at Bumblebee, who was driving up slowly to the sidewalk.

Leo breathed a heavy sigh of relief before darting towards Bumblebee, who honked lightly. Sam and Mikaela were in the front seats, and both stared at Leo in mild confusion as he darted to passenger side rear door. Sophie shook her head and walked to the driver's side rear door, which opened slightly on its own. Fighting the urge to jump, Sophie sighed and slid into the seat.

"Are you two okay?" Mikaela asked.

"Leo just tried to commit suicide, that's all," Sophie replied nonchalantly.

"Were you able to find anything out, at least?" Sam inquired, looking over the seat as Bumblebee merged with traffic.

"Yep. Got an address. It's a, uh...butcher shop," Sophie answered slowly, looking at her hand.

"A butcher shop?" Mikaela repeated.

"Yeah."

"Ew."

"Hope none of you are vegetarian," Leo murmured, looking out the window. He then looked to the front of the car. "Hey, Sam, bro, do you know if there's any more of those shape-shifting things out there? Sophie said there could be more and we wouldn't even know it."

Sam sighed and looked in the rearview mirror at Sophie.

"Do you enjoy terrorizing people? Can you not go twenty-four hours without terrifying somebody?"

"I think I'd spontaneously combust if I didn't instill the fear of God in at least one person."

"Well, Leo, you know, there could be, but I think Bee could give us the heads up, right, Bee?"

There was a long stretch of silence before the radio crackled on.

"'It's the one any only, Amazing Invisible Man!'"

The four humans stopped and stared ahead with wide eyes.

"Does...that mean no?" Leo finally asked.

"Affirmative," Bumblebee answered, his actual voice still slightly strained.

"Oh...well...um...that's...that's good to know," Mikaela stated slowly.

"Any chance that Bee can change into an RV?" Sophie asked, leaning forward to the driver seat. "Because, um...I'm not exactly keen on ever leaving his eyesight. Ever again."

Bumblebee's engine revved angrily, and Sophie quickly sat back.

"I think that means 'no,'" Sam answered decisively. "Besides, I don't think a bright yellow RV would exactly be as inconspicuous as a Camaro."

"So...that means that we could actually be hunted by those shape-shifters?" Leo asked in panic. "Like...like deer?"

Sam and Mikaela looked at Leo, who shrugged and pointed at Sophie.

"She was the one who suggested it," he said quickly.

"And yet you were the one who repeated it," Sophie replied in a sing-song voice.

"What are you, a Jedi?" Leo asked angrily.

"Trust me, if I was, I would've Force choked you a long time ago."

"All right, before a riot erupts back there, what's the address?" Sam inquired, cutting Leo off before he could create a comeback.

Sophie put her hand in front of Sam's face, showing the slightly smudged, but still legible address. As Sam read off the address, Sophie looked at the dashboard.

"Any word on the rest of the Autobots?" she inquired tentatively.

"Not much, really," Mikaela answered. "From what we can tell, they've put the Autobots on lockdown, and that's all we really know at this point."

"What?" Sophie cried. "They put the guys that are fighting _for_ us on lockdown?"

"'And why isn't this thing disarmed and on lockdown?'" Galloway's voice played from the radio.

"Oh that's brilliant," Sophie grumbled.

"The Autobots have always had this problem, though," Sam replied solemnly. "Our government seems to have a pretty serious beef with them."

"But I thought they had soldiers backing them up."

"Yeah, soldiers, but not the guys that make the executive decisions."

"Great," Sophie said slowly. Then she blinked, sitting up straight. "Wait, so does that mean they're trying to put Ironhide on lockdown?"

"Aww...is somebody concerned?" Sam crooned. "But hey, congratulations on, you know, getting his name right for once. Bee, did you record that? Sophie actually got Ironhide's name right."

"Shut up," Sophie grumbled. "I'm not concerned, you numbskull, I just want to know who did they find that was stupid enough to try and tell Ironhide to give up his firearms?"

"'And why isn't this thing disarmed and on lockdown?'" Bumblebee played Galloway's voice back once again.

"Ten bucks says that guy's flatter than a pancake when we find him..._if_ we find him."

"Your love is so sweet," Sam laughed, looking around the street as Bumblebee turned a corner.

"I will throw you out of this car...somehow," Sophie threatened.

"Bro, is she always this violent?" Leo asked.

"Ever since high school," Mikaela interrupted. "She had the whole football team afraid of her."

()

He wouldn't have seen them if it hadn't been for the fact that Mudflap and Skids were weaving in and out of traffic, falling behind long enough to panic and then dart forward to try and keep up with Bumblebee.

Maintaining a relatively safe distance, Barricade followed the three Autobots, resisting the urge to simply plow through some of the traffic that was slower to get out of his way. While he appreciated the fact that most of the humans were gullible enough to get out of his way rather promptly, there were a few that seemed determined to test what little patience Barricade had by driving at least two miles under the speed limit right in front of him.

Even so, if the Autobots pulled ahead too far, Barricade did have the trump card of simply blaring his sirens and flashing the police lights, which cleared him a path to whatever destination he chose.

Barricade had abused that privilege more than once and was rather pleased with himself.

Another car cut in front of Barricade, and he had to slam on the brakes to avoid crushing the trunk of the car. His engine roaring in protest, Barricade was a split second away from transforming and punting the car over one of the many skyscrapers in the city.

_"Barricade! Report!"_

Megatron's voice, shouting the Cybertronian language over the comm link, immediately snapped Barricade back to reality, and he pulled back a few feet from the car that had cut him off, his engine going back down to a low growl.

_"I am still following the Autobots. They are not aware of my presence, and it looks like they have all four of the humans with them."_

_ "I do not care how many humans they have with them, you worthless slag, do they have the human Sam with them?"_

Barricade bit back a retort, his temper seething, before answering.

_"Affirmative. The human Sam is still under the guardianship of the Autobot scout Bumblebee."_

_ "Maintain tracking them,"_ Megatron ordered. _"But do not let them out of your sight. I will not tolerate another failure on your part like the one you had at that human junkyard!"_

_ "I am well aware of what will happen,"_ Barricade finally snapped back, his temper getting the best of him.

_"You dare talk back to me?"_ Megatron roared over the comm link, a shriek of discordant static accompanying the Decepticon leader's furious outrage.

Forcing his temper to cool, Barricade swerved violently into another lane of traffic, ignoring the angry honking of the person that had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting him.

_"No, Lord Megatron,"_ Barricade answered curtly. _"I am simply letting you know that I am aware of my...failure...and will not let it happen again."_

_"Good. For your sake, I hope you heed your own advice."_

Megatron abruptly shut off the comm link, and Barricade immediately broke out into a string of creative curses. Megatron's arrogance and conceit never failed to amaze Barricade, and the Decepticon warrior did not find either trait very becoming for anybody, much less somebody who claimed to be a leader. At this rate, Barricade doubted that Megatron could lead a sparkling out of a tunnel, much less the Decepticon army.

However, for all of his loathing towards the Decepticon leader, Barricade's disdain for the Autobots was far greater. He couldn't stand the weak-willed half-wits that claimed to be soldiers, and their determination in protecting a race as frail as humans only disgusted Barricade to no end. Although a small part of Barricade wondered how the Autobots had managed to escape total extermination for so long. It undoubtedly had to be that Prime that had been leading the Autobots for so long. The same Prime that Megatron had defeated...

Mudflap turned a corner sharply, the squeal of tires barely audible over the sounds of traffic. Growling to himself, Barricade followed the Autobot around the corner before realizing that Mudflap was the only Autobot in his line of sight. Bumblebee and Skids were nowhere to be found.

Megatron's voice still echoing in Barricade's processor, an insidious splinter of panic began to work its way into Barricade's nerves. He drove forward a little faster, trying to keep with the smaller Autobot. He briefly considered using the sirens to clear the human drivers out of his way, but before he followed through with that course of action, Barricade realized that Mudflap was drawing him away from the course he had initially been on.

He had been far too distracted by Megatron's temper tantrum to realize that the Autobots had split up, and now Barricade was being led away by some pint-sized Autobot from his main target.

Snarling a new curse, Barricade backed away, letting Mudflap drive off into the distance, and quickly returned to his initial path, but Bumblebee and Skids were long gone. His processor kicking into overdrive, Barricade began to scan the immediate area for any sort of Autobot energy signature, and while he was able to lock onto the three Autobots, there was no way to discern which one was Bumblebee and which ones were the twins. While Barricade could safely assume that the one that was nearest to him was Mudflap, the other two were anybody's guess.

The paranoid side of Barricade half expected Megatron to demand a new report, but as the comm link remained silent, the Decepticon drove forward quickly, darting in and out of traffic as he closed the distance between the second-closest Autobot signature. He could only hope that the Autobot scout Bumblebee had not gotten too far away.

()

"Did we lose him?" Mikaela asked, looking over the back of the passenger's seat.

"Looks like it," Leo replied, looking out the rear window. "That cop car isn't anywhere to be found."

"He followed me for a bit before runnin' off like the sissy he is," Mudflap chimed over the radio. "Dunno' if he got wiser or just got scared off. I laid out some pretty slick moves along the streets."

"Mudflap scared that cop car from Hell off?" Sophie whispered.

"Hey! Barricade's nothing but a big chicken!" Mudflap yelled back. "A big, metal chicken."

"I dunno', he didn't seem to have a problem going toe-to-toe against 'ole Ironhide," Sophie mumbled.

"Hey! You got his name right again," Sam congratulated. "You're on a roll."

Mikaela sighed and rolled her eyes, shaking her head slightly. She looked back at Leo.

"Any sign of him?"

"No...don't think so," Leo replied, looking out the rear window again. "It's kind of hard to see, though. There's cars everywhere!"

"That tends to happen on streets," Sam quipped.

"Very funny, man," Leo grumbled. "It wouldn't be so funny if that Barricade guy was chasing you."

"Actually, I've been chased by that guy before. And thrown against a car. And yelled at. And almost crushed underfoot."

Leo and Sophie exchanged a quick glance before looking out the rear window intently, trying to see any hint of a police cruiser.

"There he-oh no wait, that's a taxi," Sophie cried, pointing at a taxi cab.

"It's bright yellow," Leo said in annoyance. "How could you think that's a cop car?"

"It has lights on top of it, it could have been," Sophie snapped back.

The two continued to look out the back window, but both jumped back to sitting back in their seats when the radio crackled on.

"I've got Barricade on my tail," Skids announced. "No way he's gonna' be able to catch up with me, but he sure doesn't seem happy. You four better be gettin' close to that Robowarrior guy!"

"Just keep him preoccupied for a few more minutes," Sam announced over the radio. "We're almost there...I think."

"There it is! There it is!" Sophie shouted, pointing at a butcher shop storefront. "Right there!"

"Got it, got it," Sam acknowledged. "Bee, once you drop us off, get out of sight as best you can. We don't want Barricade to come back for Round 2. He's undoubtedly pissed off by this point."

"'You got it, chief,'" Bumblebee answered. While he didn't have any reservations about trying to beat the slag out of Barricade again, Bumblebee certainly didn't want to put any human lives at unnecessary risk. He pulled close to the store front, waiting for Sam and his companions to make it safely to the sidewalk before pulling off. Bumblebee felt a little bad for leaving his human friends, but Sam had a point.

Barricade's temper had to be raging by this point, and he would be looking for any excuse to vent his frustrations and anger. Human, Autobot, or otherwise.

"Did you guys manage to find that place already?" Skids asked, sounding a little panicked.

"Yes."

"Okay, good, because, uh...Barricade's gettin' a bit...honked off. And he's pickin' up speed, too."

"Drive...fast!" Bumblebee quickly answered, his vocal processor struggling.

"You don't have to tell me twice!"

()


	16. Chapter 16

"Deli...good front," Leo commented, looking around.

Sam was glancing around at the patrons nervously, and Mikaela kept glancing at the door. While she understood the need to have Bumblebee stay hidden, she didn't exactly like not having a quick escape method.

Sophie was peering at a slab of pork chops, her nose scrunched up. She looked over and saw Leo approaching the rather loud, dark-haired butcher that was taking orders from customers and yelling orders to a rather surly man named "Sal."

"Robowarrior," Leo stated. "Know him?"

"I never heard of him," the butcher replied quickly.

"You never heard of TheRealEffingDeal dot com?"

"You must be talking about that amateur-hour blog operation with Game Boy-level security," the man replied, suppressing a smirk.

Sophie looked over at Leo and snickered. Leo gave Sophie a slightly panicked look, but shook his head.

"It's better than Game Boy-level security," Leo reassured.

"Afraid not," Sophie answered. "I took a look at the website. You've got more holes in the security than a politician's court statement."

"You got to be kidding me," Sam muttered in disbelief, looking at the man that Leo had been insisting was Robowarrior.

The butcher stared at Sam for a few seconds before throwing his hands into the air.

"All right, meat store's closed!"

There was a chorus of confused muttering and a few complaints, but the butcher didn't seem to care. Leo stepped towards Sam to avoid being lost in the crowd that was exiting the deli.

"Wait a minute. You know this guy?"

"We're old friends," Sam replied quietly.

Sophie looked between the two, and, judging by the expression of Sam's "old friend," either they had had a serious falling out or she was missing some part of the story.

"Old friends?" the man repeated incredulously. "You're the case that shut down Sector Seven, got the kibosh, disbanded." He angrily tossed down the gloves he had been wearing onto the counter. "No more security clearance, no retirement, no nothing. All 'cause of you and your little criminal girlfriend. Look at her now, so mature."

"He's got all the PR skills of a PMS'ing shark," Sophie grumbled, hiding behind Sam slightly.

"And who is this? You're back up girlfriend?"

Sophie glared at the man over Sam's shoulder, then frowned slightly.

"Wait a minute, Sector Seven? Those creepy little X-File agent wannabes?" Realization seemed to dawn on her and she pointed at the man. "You're Seymour Simmons. You're Robowarrior?"

"I beg your pardon?" Simmons snapped back. "'X-File agent wannabes?'"

"Wait, how do you know about Sector Seven?" Sam asked, looking over his shoulder at Sophie.

"Well, um...I got kind of bored at school," Sophie muttered.

"That's a serious breach of security, young lady," Simmons reprimanded. "You could go to jail for the rest of your life."

"Oh please," Sophie grumbled, rolling her eyes. "If I'm going to jail for anything, it's for finding out which government officials are responsible for rigging 'American Idol.'"

Simmons paused and blinked, then nodded.

"You're right, never mind. That's a far more serious offense." Simmons looked over his shoulder. "Yakov!"

"What?"

"You don't get Christmas bonuses standing around!" Simmons yelled. "You want those new teeth you saw on SkyMall?"

"It's my dream," Yakov replied quickly.

"Help my mom out," Simmons ordered.

"You live with your mama?" Sam queried.

"No, my mama lives with me," Simmons corrected. "It's a big difference. They got your face all over the news, alien boy."

"Yeah, I know," Sam mumbled.

"And NBE One's still kicking, huh?" Simmons asked.

"'NBE One?'" Sophie asked.

"Megatron," Sam answered quickly.

"How did that happen? Don't answer," Simmons continued. "I don't know what you're hiding, but I don't want anything to do with it. So, good-bye. You never saw me. I got bagels to schmear. Vanish."

"Can you give me five seconds?" Sam pleaded, stopping Simmons from retreating to the back of the deli. "Look, hold on, I need your help."

"Really? You need my help?"

"I need... Look, I am slowly losing my mind," Sam explained quickly. "Okay, I had a little crab-bot, plunged a device deep into the soft tissues of my brain and started projecting little alien symbols like a freaking home movie!"

"It was pretty bad," Sophie confirmed. "And I was watching the whole thing upside-down. It was even worse from that angle."

"And on top of that, " Sam continued, "I'm a wanted fugitive. So, you think you got it rough?"

"You said it projected images off your brain?" Simmons asked.

"Right."

"Meat locker, now!" Simmons commanded. He guided the four to a frigid meat locker. Sophie glanced around at the slabs of meat hanging in the meat locker. She cringed back and muttered something about going vegetarian.

"What you're about to see is top secret," Simmons warned. "Do not tell my mother."

"Swine flu," Leo commented, looking at the iced over pork in the meat locker. "Not good."

Simmons then opened a trap door on the floor, and then went down the ladder to the dimly lit room below it. Sam and his friends followed, all of them looking around at the towers of paperwork and filing cabinets.

"Okay, files, files," Simmons muttered, leafing through boxes of papers. "We're talking about symbols."

Sophie wandered around the room slightly, not wanting to risk getting crushed under an avalanche of papers and possibly alien technology. Or at the very least, an avalanche of paperwork about alien technology.

As Simmons reprimanded Leo about something that was radioactive that he needed to keep his hands off of, Sophie noticed a photograph of what looked like two rather insidious bracelets, and a long, centipede-looking piece of segmented metal. There was a blueprint of the bracelets and segmented metal beside the photograph, and Sophie leaned closer, trying to get a better look at the scribbled writing on the blueprint.

"What the hell are these?" Sophie asked. "These look like some seriously kinky jewelry pieces."

"Those are nasty," Simmons warned. "They go on your wrists and that other piece attaches itself to your spine, starting at the base of your skull. Takes complete control over your body and you have no say in what you do from there on out."

"How do you know this?" Sophie inquired slowly, looking slightly horrified.

"Let's just say there were some very brave men and women," Simmons replied.

Sophie shuddered and looked at another pair of photos below the blueprint. It looked to be a human arm, with large needle-marks on the wrist, and then the second photo was that of a human back. Again, there were needle-marks that made an outline of the spine, and Sophie could only guess that this was where the long, centipede-looking piece of metal had been attached.

Squinting, Sophie looked a little closer, feeling a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't be sure due to the blurriness of the photos from lack of care to the photo, but it looked like there were black veins running from the needle-marks, etching their way around the ribcage of the unfortunate subject.

"Really brave or really stupid," Sophie grumbled, shuddering.

"Oh it gets better," Simmons added. "Afterwards, the poor schmuck was saying things about hearing voices in their head to command them to destroy all humans. That and they lost all muscle control."

Sophie looked up from the photos at Simmons, mollified.

"You're kidding, right?" she asked.

"Not in the least."

Swallowing hard and trying to avoid gagging, Sophie walked back over to Sam.

"You have really, really weird friends," she whispered.

"Yeah, you're the weirdest, though," Sam replied with a grin.

()

Repressing a snarl, Ironhide scowled at the two soldiers that were sealing the locker that contained most of the weapons that Ironhide had been working on. While Ironhide tried to remind himself that the soldiers were simply following Galloway's incredibly ignorant orders, he was not appreciative of the way the weapons had been crammed into the locker. It had taken Ironhide three days of convincing Q that he wouldn't use the energy boost on the plasma rifle for anything but defensive purposes, and after watching the forklift almost crush the rifle into the locker, Ironhide doubted the plasma rifle would be good for anything more than a wall-hanging.

"Any more word from Bumblebee?"

Ironhide looked over to Ratchet, who was already looking worn out from trying to repair the damage that Optimus Prime had sustained.

"So far, none," Ironhide answered, glaring at the soldier that was driving the forklift. To the soldier's credit, he did seem to drive the forklift away from the two Autobots a little faster.

"He does have backup, though," Ratchet reasoned, shaking his head as he heard the last locker clack shut. He was nowhere near as trigger-happy as Ironhide, but he still did not see the point in disarming the Autobots while the Decepticons were left to use whatever weapon they had at their disposal.

"You're counting Skids and Mudflap as backup?" Ironhide asked incredulously.

"Better than nothing, right?" Ratchet reasoned.

"I'm not too sure about that," Ironhide grumbled. "How is Optimus?"

"No change," Ratchet sighed. "I've repaired the damage that I could, but there's little more that can be done. He's still in stasis lock, and there's no telling if he'll even be able to wake up."

"Right." Ironhide saw Lennox walking across one of the walkways that had been set up in the hangar to allow the humans to talk to the Autobots a little easier. Lennox motioned for Ironhide and Ratchet.

"How's Optimus?" Lennox asked Ratchet. "Any better?"

"Afraid not," Ratchet answered, shaking his head.

Lennox sighed and looked down for a few moments. While he had seen the damage that Megatron had done, Lennox had been holding out hope that maybe Optimus could pull through.

"They've got all of the weapons sealed away in those metal lockers," Lennox continued. "They also cleared out the workstation, Ironhide. Sorry about that. I've tried speaking to the President, but I haven't been able to get through, yet. I think Galloway's purposefully keeping communications in and out of this place either restricted or, at the very least, monitored."

"Is there nobody else you can speak to?" Ironhide inquired. "The only thing this man Galloway is going to accomplish is putting more humans at risk from the Decepticons."

"I've been trying to get in touch with a few old friends," Lennox replied. "But so far I haven't heard anything. I don't want Galloway to catch on if any of them answer. Otherwise he's liable to destroy the communication and we won't know what's going on and it'd be a big waste of time."

Ironhide said nothing, but nodded his head. Two more of Galloway's men were staring at the two Autobots and Lennox and whispering between themselves. Ironhide gave the two a scathing glare, and it was enough to make the two soldiers scurry off. Grinning at the small victory, Ironhide heard Ratchet chuckle quietly to himself. Lennox looked a little confused and looked between Ratchet and Ironhide, trying to figure out why the two Autobots were laughing.

"Don't ask, for Primus' sake, don't ask," Ratchet laughed. "He's liable to try and terrorize the entire base."

"And what's wrong with that?" Ironhide asked, still grinning smugly.

"The fact that I'm included on this base," Lennox stated with a mock panicked look.

"Don't worry, I believe the phrase is, 'I like you. I will kill you last,'" Ironhide commented.

Lennox blinked and then burst into laughter, lightly hitting the guardrail of the walkway. Ironhide looked over at Ratchet, who seemed confused but humored by Lennox's laughter.

"Great," Lennox laughed. "Our fates are being decided by 'Family Guy.'"

"It seems popular enough," Ironhide argued. "Therefore I would assume that it is a relatively safe source to quote."

"We need to get you the History channel or the Discovery channel," Lennox chuckled, shaking his head.

"Isn't that one of the channels where that human with the bad hair is always talking about aliens?" Ratchet asked. "I personally think the Autobots should have a word with that man."

"You do the talking," Ironhide grumbled. "I'll do the shooting. That man-"

There was a short beep as Ironhide's comm link picked up an incoming transmission. Ironhide glanced between Ratchet and Lennox, both of which nodded their heads quickly. Stepping back to a quieter section of the hangar, Ironhide activated the comm link. Ratchet and Lennox set to work on making as much distractive noise as possible, keeping Galloway's men away from Ironhide.

_"Bumblebee?"_ Ironhide asked.

_"'Affirmative,'"_ came the radio clip.

_"Are the humans safe?"_

_"'Affirmative.'"_

_ "Where are you?"_

_ "'Round, round, I get around.'"_

Ironhide sighed in exasperation at the sound of the song lyric playing back in response. While he appreciated the fact that Bumblebee was still safe enough to play music as a reply, Ironhide wished the scout would treat the situation with a little more seriousness.

_"That sounds...fun, I suppose,"_ Ironhide answered. He glanced over his shoulder. So far, none of Galloway's men, or Galloway himself, were being suicidal and trying to listen in on the conversation. _"What is the status of the humans?"_

_ "Safe. Barricade...pursued, but we lost...lost...lost him."_

_"You encountered Barricade?"_ Ironhide snarled. He was still irritated at not being able to finish the Decepticon off the last time he'd fought Barricade, and it didn't bode well that Barricade was still hunting Bumblebee and, worse yet, the humans.

_"'Affirmative.' But...Mudflap and Skids...helped. Distracted Barricade."_

_ "Those two short circuits actually helped?"_ Ironhide asked in disbelief. He made a mental note to not let Ratchet know, otherwise, he'd never hear the end of it. _"Primus does watch out for fools and sparklings. Do you know where Barricade is now?"_

_ "No,"_ Bumblebee answered. _"Skids...was being pursued...but managed...to lo-lose Barricade. Am currently...currently...maintaining a perimeter...around the-the deli the humans...are in."_

_ "Are you sure that there is no chance that Barricade knows where the humans currently are?"_

_ "No, but that-that is why...I am maintaining...perimeter."_

Ironhide nodded slightly.

_"So it sounds like Sophie was able to successfully locate this 'Robowarrior' person."_

_ "'Affirmative.' And she was...was...able to obtain...another...latte."_

_ "Another one?"_

_ "Waiting...for...heart failure,"_ Bumblebee answered.

Shaking his head, Ironhide started to reply, but paused when he heard a short burst of static.

_"Bumblebee?"_ Ironhide queried. _"Bumblebee, come in."_

_ "Visual on Barricade,"_ Bumblebee said after a pause. _"Will report back in...sh-shortly."_

_"Do not engage Barricade,"_ Ironhide ordered. _"Get the twins to distract him away from your location. We cannot provide reinforcements at this time, and keeping the humans safe is still your primary objective. Understood?"_

_ "Understood. Out."_

The communication link was abruptly cut off, and Ironhide sighed in frustration. He glanced up and caught Ratchet making a cutting throat motion. Nodding, Ironhide looked over and saw Galloway arguing with Lennox. Lennox looked incredibly calm, given the circumstances, but it was keeping Galloway irritated enough that he was focusing his ire solely on Lennox. It gave Ironhide enough time to walk back over to Ratchet.

"Was that Bumblebee?" Ratchet inquired.

"Yes, he had another visual on Barricade, but I ordered him to get the twins to get off their rear tires and keep Barricade away from Bumblebee and the humans."

"Here's hoping," Ratchet muttered. "Barricade is being rather persistent in this pursuit, isn't he?"

"He undoubtedly knows that we would be unable to provide any sort of reinforcement for Bumblebee or the humans." Ironhide grumbled. "Well, Mudflap and Skids were able to provide enough of a distraction to keep Barricade off of Bumblebee's trail before, they should be able to do that once more."

"Wait, you mean that the twins actually provided help? The same twins you were talking so poorly about a few minutes ago?" Ratchet asked with a smirk.

"Slag it all," Ironhide muttered.


	17. Chapter 17

Looking through the chain link fence, Sophie scrunched up her nose and nervously bit at her lip ring.

"You're sure about this? I mean, I'm all for visiting the Smithsonian, but...maybe on normal business hours?"

"Hey, hey, this is not some classroom field trip," Simmons corrected, rustling around the contents of a duffel bag. "Watches synchronized, sharp mind and empty bladder. You get caught, demand an attorney and don't ever say my name."

"You do know if we tried to tell any of this to anybody, they'd think we were completely and utterly batshit coo-coo," Sophie grumbled.

"Keep that up and I'll leave you outside with vehicle guard-duty," Simmons warned. He then handed pills to all four of his compatriots. "Okay, take one of these pills. Slip it under your tongue. It's the high-concentrate polymer they put in Oreo cookies. Tricks the polygraph every time. Okay. Now, let's get this show on the road."

"Whoa, wait, listen, I can't do this," Leo argued quickly. "I'm not some sort of alien bounty hunter. Guards have guns. I don't wanna' die."

"Oh, come on, Leo," Sophie laughed. "You're going to get up close and personal with one of the oldest Transformers in existence. It's the, how'd you say it, the 'real effing deal.'"

"Hardy har har," Leo grumbled, shrugging his shoulders. "What? You're not afraid of getting shot?"

"I've had a few run-ins with security," Sophie replied. "You just have to bat your eyes and fake a few tears and they'll just escort you away, no guns required."

"I don't think that'll really work for me," Leo muttered under his breath.

"Kid, kid, kid," Simmons interrupted. "You compromise this mission, you are dead to me. Now look into my eyes and tighten up that sphincter. The museum's closing."

"You sure about this?" Sophie mumbled to Sam.

"Yeah, you know...breaking into a national museum, I think that classifies as a felony, right? And we're going to try and awaken an ancient Seeker to ask him about all the weird things that are going on in my head," Sam said, waving his fingers around quickly. "So, you know, yeah...I'm really sure about this. Seems like a solid plan."

"You're nuts," Sophie grumbled.

()

After Leo had successfully made a fool of himself in distracting the security guard, and then by tazing himself in a rather sensitive area, Mikaela let Wheelie out of his proverbial cage.

"Be good," Mikaela warned.

"I'm claustrophobic," Wheelie grumbled, rolling around and getting his bearings back. He looked around quickly and then immediately began zipping off around the Smithsonian. The humans promptly followed the smaller Transformer, pausing as he looked around.

"Here, here!" he said, pointing at a giant Blackbird stealth jet.

"Blackbird," Sophie mumbled.

"There he is," Wheelie said, for the first time a sense of reverence in his voice. "This guy's a legend, like the Chairman of the Board! Yo, freshman, point the shard and watch the magic happen."

Sam cautiously aimed the small shard of the AllSpark at the Blackbird, arcs of energy coursing over the body of the Blackbird as it began to shudder and come back to life.

"Shit! It's a Decepticon!" Mikaela cried.

The humans panicked and began to run away from the Blackbird as it transformed.

"Get behind the MiG, now!" Simmons ordered as they fought to find a hiding spot.

The Decepticon, now fully transformed, staggered around, seeming to struggle with being in his robot form. He looked around quickly, snorting and chuffing and sounding very confused and upset about his current surroundings.

"What sort of hideous mausoleum is this?" the Decepticon thundered, looking around furiously. "Answer me, pawns and knaves!"

"Does he even know what time it is? Like the year?" Sophie whispered.

"Doesn't sound like it," Mikaela answered quietly.

"Show yourselves or suffer my infinite wrath! You little spinal-cord-based organisms! Bugger it! Behold the eternal glory of Jetfire! Prepare for remote systems override!" the Decepticon continued to rage.

"Man, I tell you, this guy did not age well," Wheelie muttered.

"I don't think he's going to hurt us," Sam said slowly, cautiously leaving their hiding place from behind the MiG fighter jet.

"I command these doors to open!" Jetfire ordered. "Fire! I said, fire!"

Jetfire suddenly staggered, taking a swing at the doors. The doors crumpled and gave way under the impact, and Jetfire managed to stumble through the ripped open doors.

"Bollocks!" he cursed. "Damn these worthless parts!"

"Wait a second!" Sam cried, chasing after Jetfire.

"The museum is going to be mad at us," Leo muttered, looking around at the disarrayed displays and damaged jets.

"We have to catch that jet," Mikaela cried. "Sam! Wait!"

"Right!" Jetfire declared. "I'm on a mission!"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Sam pleaded, darting in front of Jetfire.

"What do you want?" Jetfire asked in irritation.

"Look, we just want to talk."

"We need to ask you a favor!" Sophie shouted, sprinting so that she was looking up at Jetfire.

The Decepticon looked between the two, optics narrowed.

"I have no time to talk," he snorted dismissively. "I'm on a mission! I'm a mercenary doom-bringer. What planet am I on?"

"Earth," Sam replied.

"Earth? Terrible name for a planet. Might as well call it 'Dirt,'" Jetfire grumbled.

"We appreciate the term Earth," Sophie countered cautiously.

"Tell me," Jetfire continued, ignoring Sophie's comment. "Is that robot civil war still going on? Who's winning."

"The Decepticons," Sam answered somberly.

"Well, I changed sides to the Autobots," Jetfire snapped back, sounding rather proud of the statement.

"What do you mean you switched sides?" Sam asked.

"It's a choice," Jetfire explained. "It's an intensely personal decision. So much negativity. Who wants to live a life filled with hate?"

"You mean you don't have to work for those miserable, freaking Decepticons?" Wheelie asked incredulously.

"If Decepticons had their way, they'd destroy the whole universe," Jetfire grumbled.

"I'm changing sides. I'm changing sides, too, warrior goddess," Wheelie promised, crawling over to Mikaela's feet.

"Oookay, no we're starting to get into creepy-land," Sophie mumbled, taking a step away from Mikaela and Wheelie.

"Who's your little Autobot?" Wheelie asked, starting to hump Mikaela's leg.

"Aww, you're cute," Mikaela said, smiling.

"Well, use protection," Sophie said, patting Mikaela on the shoulder. "And...I hope your tetanus shots are up to date."

"Name's Wheelie. Yeah, say my name, say my name."

"What are you allowing to happen to your foot just now?" Sam demanded.

"At least he's faithful, Sam," Mikaela countered.

"Jerry, Jerry, Jerry," Sophie chanted quietly.

"Yeah, well, he's faithful and he's nude and he's perverted," Sam stated angrily.

"Can you just... Can you stop?" Mikaela grumbled.

"Seriously, Wheelie, cut it out," Sophie said, cautiously poking Wheelie with the toe of her shoe.

"Hey! Hey! Go get your own Autobot!" Wheelie growled, batting at Sophie's shoe. "I'm a one-woman type of Autobot."

"She can't even say the name the only Autobot that has shown an extreme amount of patience with Sophie," Mikaela laughed.

"La-la-la-la-la! I'm not hearing this!" Sophie shouted, covering her ears.

"What, you got a tic or somethin'?" Wheelie asked, not relinquishing his hold on Mikaela's leg.

Sophie cast a horrified and disgusted look between both Wheelie and Mikaela before darting a short ways away from them.

"You both scare me," she grumbled.

Sam, meanwhile, was busy trying to convince Jetfire to help them, but when another of Jetfire's circuits backfired, it got everybody's attention.

"It comes in waves, these vivid symbols," Sam explained quickly, drawing the symbols he had seen in the dirt with a knife blade. "They're symbols, but they're in my mind. You see, all this is in my mind and Megatron wants what's in my mind."

"Yeah, and he starts talking like Rainman with the hiccups," Sophie added.

"Would you stop?" Sam asked in irritation.

"What? I'm trying to help," Sophie replied, sounding surprised. "Every little detail may make a difference, you know."

"Comparing me to Rainman isn't going to change the fate of this planet," Sam hissed back.

"Okay, fine, fine."

"Your friend's speech impairment is probably stemming from the fact that your organic bodies are incapable of truly handling the vast quantities of power and knowledge that are within these symbols," Jetfire replied, glancing over at Sophie.

"Like a computer on overload?" Sophie inquired, looking up at the old Transformer.

"Somewhat," Jetfire answered with a nod. "Although he should consider himself lucky that it is simply information that has been uploaded into his mind and not a physical manifestation of the technology itself."

"Why?" Mikaela asked quickly. "What would happen if he did?"

"Most likely his organic body would be taken over by the technology itself, depending on the purpose."

"Wait, wait, wait," Sophie said. "You mean, like if he tried to pick up a cannon-let's just spin reality for a few seconds and say he found a cannon that was human-sized, and it was made of technology from you Transformers, then the cannon would take over him and he'd be...what? A...walking...cannon?"

"Not exactly," Jetfire replied, starting to sound a bit irritated at the lack of understanding on the humans' part. "A gun in itself would not take over an organic body, but there are circuits and uplinks necessary to use some of the weapons we Transformers wield, and without them, the gun would be little more than a club."

"What about these?" Sophie asked, holding up a photo of the centipede like bracelets and spine attachment on her cell phone.

"Hey!" Simmons yelled. "What did I say about touching things?"

"Oh please, I took a non-flash photo with my phone," Sophie grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Besides, they look like something that a seriously messed up horror book could be written about. I-I mean, we, could make millions, yeah?"

"You'd better delete that photo in five seconds or less, missy," Simmons warned.

"Or what, you'll attack me with more of your Oreo pills?"

"Those are quite dangerous for you humans," Jetfire interrupted. Both Sophie and Simmons looked up at him. "They look to be Decepticon in design, although this primitive communication device makes it hard to discern."

"Hey, this primitive communication device is still the latest model, I'll have you know," Sophie snapped, defensively holding her phone to her chest.

"Is it?" Jetfire asked, sounding surprised. "Then you humans have a lot of catching up to do. But yes, those devices...those would undoubtedly start to over-write your organic makeup with a more robotic design."

"Wait a minute," Simmons said, starting to sound somewhere between horrified and intrigued. "You mean to tell me that those things could turn a human into a Transfomer?"

"No, not completely. It would be some tragic, half-organic, half-robotic nightmare," Jetfire answered flatly. "A terrible and hideous fate for any creature."

"Wow...you lucked out, dude," Leo mumbled to Sam, who had been content to let Sophie question Jetfire for a few minutes.

"Yeah, yeah," Sam said, waving his hands slightly. "So this knowledge that's in my head, Megatron wants it. Him and something, er, somebody called the Fallen."

"The Fallen?" Jetfire asked, sounding irritated once again. "I know him. He left me here to rust. The original Decepticon. He's terrible to work for. It's always apocalypse, chaos, crisis."

"Sounds like my old boss back at McDonald's," Leo commented, looking crestfallen.

"These transcriptions, they were part of my mission, the Fallen's search," Jetfire murmured, looking over the symbols Sam had drawn in the dirt. "I remember now, for the Dagger's Tip, and the key."

"No time to explain. Hold on, everybody!" Jetfire commanded, scooping up the humans and stepping close to Bumblebee, Mudflap, and Skids. "Stay still or you'll die!"

A loud shriek of energy reverberated through the air and then a blast of bluish-white energy engulfed the group and they suddenly blinked from view...

...and came crashing down into the searing hot sands of the Egyptian deserts.

Jetfire landed on a rocky cliff with a crashing thud, while the twins went borderline cart-wheeling down a sandy dune. Bumblebee was thrown clear into another sand dune, while Wheelie went bouncing down the rocks of the cliff Jetfire had landed on like some sort of demented ping-pong ball.

Sam landed on his back, but unfortunately crushed his hand between his back and a few, jagged rocks. Simmons managed to land on his feet, and although he staggered a bit, seemed to stick the landing...until Sophie plowed into him, knocking them both into the sand. Leo fared worse, though, with Mikaela's head hitting him in a very sensitive area that had been tazed not too long ago.

"Well, that went well," Jetfire grumbled, slowly getting to his feet. "Wasn't so bad. Let's just hope we're on the right planet."

At the mention of planet, Sophie looked up from where she had involuntarily tackled Simmons.

"Wait? 'Right planet'?" she shrieked. "We're on another planet!? Help! Amber Alert! Amber Alert! I've been kidnapped by a living Smithsonian exhibit!"

"Would you shut up?" Simmons groaned, standing up and tenderly touching his lower back where Sophie's shoulder had slammed into him. "If we were on another planet, we probably wouldn't even be able to breathe right now. Jeez...you used to play football or something, Viking woman?"

"I played rugby for four years," Sophie replied, sounding a little confused. "Why?"

"Oh...makes sense now why my kidneys are paying my lungs a visit," Simmons grumbled.

"You big sissy," Sophie muttered.

"Hey!" Wheelie shouted, making his way through the thick sand. "That freaking hurt!"

"Oh, my God. Oh, God. Oh, my God, what a beautiful face," Leo whimpered, looking down at Mikaela. "This would be a perfect moment, except you landed on my testicles. Please, get off. God, my balls."

Mikaela, realizing exactly where she was, quickly sat up, looking horrified and disgusted. She glanced around and saw Sam, promptly going to his side and helping him up, mindful of his now injured hand. Sophie meandered over to Leo slowly, and then looked down at him.

"I really hope you never wanted to have kids," Sophie said.

"Just shut up and help me up," Leo groaned through gritted teeth. "I can't feel anything below my waist."

"Really? Because you sure are whining a lot for somebody who can't feel anything."

"When I get up, if I get up, I'm going to kill you," Leo threatened.

"Yeah, right," Sophie snickered with a roll of her eyes. She reached down and grabbed Leo's hand, hauling him up.

Leo limped around for a few minutes before giving Sophie a pointed glare. Sophie raised an eyebrow slowly and took half a step back.

"You really want to test how much feeling you've lost from the waist down?" Sophie warned.

"No, not really," Leo winced, limping again. "Thanks for the help, though."

"Good boy," Sophie replied, patting Leo on the head. She shrugged and rolled her shoulder, hearing it crackled and pop. "...owie."


	18. Chapter 18

"Are we in Vegas?" Leo asked, looking around. "That'd be awesome if we were in Vegas!"

"I don't think that ancient Transformers would have travelled light-years across the galaxies to play poker and ogle at strippers," Sophie grumbled.

"Are you always such a downer?" Leo inquired, turning to face Sophie. "I mean, we just travelled across who knows how many miles and are in the middle of possibly some alien desert and all you can do is be a Debbie Downer."

"It has been over twenty four hours since I have had coffee, a cigarette, or some other drug that has probably burned a couple holes in my brain meats," Sophie snapped back. "So I'm sorry if I'm not exactly in the cheeriest of moods."

"Whoa, wait...you're a druggie?" Leo asked, pausing.

"I was," Sophie answered, taking a few slogging steps through the thick sand. "Bad stuff, too, don't do it. Drugs are bad. Very bad. That guy off South Park may have sounded like a dip, but he knew what he was talking about."

"You really were?"

Sophie stopped and looked at Leo in confusion, then nodded slowly.

"Like, how bad?" Leo asked, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

Sighing and rolling her eyes, Sophie turned her left arm over, revealing the faint scars of needle-marks in the bend of her arm. She then tapped the bend of her right arm, showing a similar set of needle-mark scars.

"Holy shit," Leo muttered, looking at the scars a little closer. "Man, you're like...hard-core, huh?"

"If you mean a hard-core dumb ass, then yeah, I really was," Sophie answered.

Leo looked up at Sophie from the scars, then shrugged.

"Hey, we all make mistakes, right? So long as you learn from them, you should be good, man."

"That was...really insightful of you," Sophie said slowly, sounding both suspicious and slightly impressed.

"Really? So it was believable?" Leo asked, nodding. "Think chicks would dig that sort of sentimental stuff?"

"And the insight's gone," Sophie grumbled, shaking her head.

"That really, really hurt!" Wheelie yelled at Jetfire, rolling by Sophie and Leo.

"Not that's a Debbie Downer," Sophie said, pointing at Wheelie.

"What, you get the common sense knocked out of you?" Wheelie growled loudly. "My name's Wheelie, not Debbie."

"Never mind..."

"I told you I was opening a space bridge," Jetfire interrupted. "It's the fastest way to travel to Egypt."

"See, we're in Egypt, not Vegas," Sophie whispered pointedly.

"When did you... When did you tell us? You didn't tell us anything," Sam said in irritation. "You didn't tell us anything. Why are we in Egypt?"

"Don't you get snippy with me, fleshling!" Jetfire reprimanded, stamping the ground with his cane. "You were duly informed!"

"Right, because 'hold on' is a great warning for the fact that we're about to get transported across the globe," Sam argued back. He sighed heavily and shook his head, holding his hands up. "Okay, okay...wait...can you just focus for a second? Why are we in Egypt? Maybe we can all have a semblance of peace of mind."

"This planet was visited by our race once before, by our earliest ancestors, millennia ago. They were on an exploratory mission to harvest Energon, the lifeblood of our race," Jetfire explained. He shrugged angrily, another quick burst of sparks emanating from his shoulder joint. "Without it, we'll all perish, oxidize and rust, like my wretched self! Do you have any idea what it's like to slowly fall apart and die?"

"Hey, let's not get episodic, okay, old-timer?" Simmons interjected. "Beginning, middle, end. Facts. Details. Condense. Plot. Tell it."

"Somewhere buried in this desert, our ancestors built a great machine. It harvests Energon by destroying suns."

"Destroy suns?" Sam asked, sounding a bit worried.

"You mean blow them up?" Leo echoed, mimicking an explosion with his hands.

"Yes. You see, in the beginning, there were seven Primes, our original leaders. And they set out into the universe, seeking distant suns to harvest," Jetfire explained, his voice becoming distant. "The Primes set out with one rule, never destroy a planet with life, until one of them tried to defy this rule. And his name forevermore was the Fallen. He despised the human race and he wanted to kill you all by turning on that machine. The only way to activate it is with a legendary key called the Matrix of Leadership. A great battle took place over possession of the Matrix. The Fallen was stronger than his brothers, so they had no choice but to steal and hide it from him. In the ultimate sacrifice, they gave their lives to seal the Matrix away in a tomb made of their very own bodies, a tomb we cannot find. Somewhere, buried in this desert, that deadly machine remains. The Fallen knows where it is and if he finds the tomb of the Primes, your world will be no more."

"So there's one of you guys that's pissed off at our whole race and he wants to kill us all?" Sophie cried. "What'd we ever do to him?"

"More importantly," Sam interrupted, "how do we stop the Fallen?"

"Only a Prime can defeat a Fallen," Jetfire answered.

"Optimus Prime?" Sam asked.

"So, you've met a Prime?" Jetfire inquired, sounding intrigued. "Why, you must have met a great descendant. Is he alive, here on this planet?"

"He sacrificed himself to save me," Sam replied morosely.

"So, he's dead," Jetfire said, sounding crestfallen. "Without a Prime, it's impossible. No one else could stop the Fallen."

"So, the same energy that's gonna be used to reactivate the machine, could that energy somehow be used to reactivate Optimus and bring him back to life?" Sam asked hopefully.

"It was never designed for that purpose, but it's an energy like no other."

"This is probably going to sound blasphemous," Sophie added, "but maybe it's like using an iPod Touch cord to charge your iPhone, yeah?"

Everybody, including the Transformers, slowly turned and looked at Sophie. Sophie pursed her lips and ducked her head.

"Are you comparing a Prime to some sort of primitive entertainment device?" Jetfire asked slowly. His tone was a mix of anger and shocked horror.

"No, no...not at all," Sophie said, shaking her head quickly. "I said nothing. You guys are hearing things."

"Nice save," Wheelie grumbled.

Angrily, Sophie kicked Wheelie, sending the smaller Transformer skidding across the sands for a few feet. With a mechanical snort, Wheelie quickly regained his composure and glared at Sophie.

"Hey! What the slag was that for?" he demanded.

"Being a PITA," Sophie answered crisply.

"Hey, hey...warrior-goddess," Wheelie said, rolling over to Mikaela and tugging on her pant leg. "That little punk fleshling's trying to start a fight...want me to take care of it?"

Mikaela looked down at Wheelie, then up at Sophie, who was already shifting her feet slightly in the sand in preparation of kicking Wheelie with enough force to possibly put him into orbit. ...or at least make him have to drive quite a ways through the sand to get back to the group.

"That...might not be a good idea," Mikaela said slowly, taking a step so that Wheelie was behind her. "Sophie is...very good at kicking things."

Sophie gave Wheelie her best barracuda grin, and Wheelie looked up at Mikaela, back to Sophie, and then back to Mikaela before hugging her leg tightly.

"You are so sweet, warrior-goddess," Wheelie crooned, stroking Mikaela's leg reverently. "You put yourself between me and that maniac."

"You think that's going to save you?" Sophie asked. Her tone was startlingly grim, and Mikaela looked up in surprise.

"Relax," she said quietly. "It's not like he's really going to hurt you..."

Sophie blinked and tilted her head to one side, grinning.

"I know," she laughed shortly. "I'm not really going to punt the little pint-sized terror. Well...if he tries to hump my leg, no promises."

"One-woman Autobot!" Wheelie cried, still clinging to Mikaela's leg.

"Would you three cut it out?" Sam asked in exasperation. He looked back up at Jetfire. "So how do we get to the Matrix before the Decepticons find us?"

"Follow your mind, your map, your symbols. What you carved in the sand, it's your clue," Jetfire explained, seeming to slowly draw one of the symbols in the air. "When dawn alights the Dagger's Tip, Three Kings will reveal the doorway!"

"'Doorway?'" Sam repeated.

"Find the doorway! Go now! Go!" Jetfire urged. "That was my mission. It's your mission now. Go before the Decepticons find me and find you."

()

With Bumblebee transporting the humans, the twins followed closely, a thick plume of dust kicking up behind them as they sped across the Egyptian desert.

"Okay, here's what my CIA contact says," Simmons announced as he ended a cell phone call. "Ancient Sumerians used to call the Gulf of Aqaba the 'Dagger's Tip.'"

"You have CIA contacts?" Sophie asked excitedly, leaning forward towards the driver's seat. "Can you get me a job interview?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Leo joined in. "Me too!"

"Hey, hey! I am not Monster dot com, here," Simmons snapped. "Sit back in your seats. If we have a wreck, you'd get thrown out of the windshield."

"Bee's not gonna' wreck," Sophie said, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, so where is the Dagger's Tip?" Sam said.

"It's part of the Red Sea," Simmons explained, pinpointing the location on a GPS device. "It divides Egypt and Jordan like the tip of a blade. 29.5 degrees north, 35 east. Here it is."

"First thing we've got to do is get Optimus to the Dagger's Tip," Sam announced, his hands lightly resting on the steering wheel out of habit.

"How are you going to get him halfway across the globe?" Leo asked.

"Could Jetfire go get him?" Sophie queried.

"He could try using that same teleportation thing he used with us," Mikaela added.

"Don't think so," Sam answered. "It'd be really risky. The Decepticons might follow him to N.E.S.T. headquarters and it'd get ugly in a hurry. Not to mention there's no telling how the rest of the Autobots would react to Jetfire. He may have switched sides, but he's still got a Decepticon insignia and he may still have a Decepticon energy signature."

"Right," Sophie muttered. "Did you have an idea, then, Witwicker Man?"

"I'm going to make a phone call," Sam answered casually.

"With what?" Sophie asked incredulously. "We had to trash our phones to keep from getting hunted down like wanted fugitives. You gonna' use Superman's pet carrier pigeon to deliver a message?"

"Pay phones, remember?" Sam replied back.

"Oh yeah," Sophie said slowly. Her eyes got wide as she realized she hadn't thought of that communication line. She turned to Leo and held out her hand. "Hit my hand. I was a stupid and didn't think of that first."

Leo stopped and looked at Sophie in confusion, then lightly tapped the top of her hand.

"My dead great-grandmother hits harder than that," Sophie grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Harder."

Frowning, Leo once again lightly tapped the top of Sophie's hand, only adding a bit more force.

"Harder, you sissy!"

Mikaela looked over at the two in slight apprehension. Sophie caught the stare and returned in kind.

"And you were giving Wheelie hell for what he did?" Mikaela asked.

"I'm not humping this loser's leg," Sophie responded. She looked at Leo quickly. "No offense."

"None taken," Leo answered, nodding morosely. He then perked up. "But...you know, I wouldn't take offense either if you, um...wanted to do that...with my leg."

"You are really, really desperate, aren't you?" Sophie asked in irritation.

"Kinda, yeah," Leo said, shrugging. "At least I'm honest."

"Yeah...but that sort of honesty is about on par with sex offenders having to introduce themselves to their neighbors, you know?"

Leo winced and raised an eyebrow and looked over at Mikaela for confirmation. Mikaela nodded with somewhat disgusted and reluctant look on her face. Sighing, Leo sat back in the seat and crossed his arms.

"I just can't win...," he muttered. "I just can't win."


	19. Chapter 19

()

Watching as two of the soldiers patrolled around the base, Ironhide tried not to think about what would happen if the Decepticons started a full-on assault on the base. While the chances of that were relatively low at the moment, as the Decepticons were too busy hunting Sam down, it was still a very real risk.

"You know we don't really have to take orders from any of these humans..."

Breaking out of his thoughts, Ironhide looked over to Sideswipe, who was looking none too happy. He currently had his wrist blades detracted, and Ironhide could only imagine how irritating that was to Sideswipe. Probably almost as irritating as it was to Ironhide that he had powered down his wrist cannons as much as possible.

"Optimus would not want us going against our N.E.S.T. allies," Ironhide reminded tersely. Sideswipe had always been headstrong and a little brash, something that had been a constant frustration when Ironhide had tried to train Sideswipe when it came to combat. But now, Sideswipe's tone of voice indicated a slow, seething anger that could possibly get the better of the young Autobot.

"But Optimus is-"

"I am well aware of Optimus's current state," Ironhide interrupted, looking over at where the soldiers under Galloway's orders had stowed the Autobots' weapons. "But what good would it do us to fight both the humans and the Decepticons?"

"We wouldn't be fighting all humans," Sideswipe said in annoyance. "Just the ones that are stupid enough to think that they can fight the Decepticons without our aid."

"And do you think our human allies would be able to escape our rebellion without repercussions?" Ironhide pointed out.

Sideswipe fell silent for a few minutes, glaring at the ground, before looking back up at his mentor.

"Can't we have at least one of our so-called human allies get our weapons back?" he finally asked sharply.

Turning to face Sideswipe, Ironhide gave him a pointed glare. While Ironhide certainly didn't agree with the recent actions of some of the humans, he had also seen Lennox argue vehemently in defense of the Autobots, only to be silenced and humiliated. And while Ironhide could also understand Sideswipe's frustration, he wasn't about to let the brash Autobot speak ill of the few humans that truly were allies to the Autobots.

"Watch your tone, boy," Ironhide warned. "While they may be few, some of these humans are our allies and have gone to great risks and lengths to help us."

"Why are you defending them when they've disarmed us and are treating us like prisoners at our own base?" Sideswipe hissed, rolling forward so that he was glaring directly up at Ironhide.

Shrugging his shoulders slightly and looming over Sideswipe, Ironhide scowled down at the smaller Autobot.

"Because any warrior worth their spark will defend their allies," Ironhide reminded angrily. "You should know that. You should also know that it's not a very wise idea to test my patience."

Sighing slightly, Sideswipe rolled back a bit, his shoulders falling in defeat. Ironhide relaxed a bit, grateful that Sideswipe had finally used his common sense. To his left, Ironhide could see Ratchet watching the two with growing concern from his makeshift med-bay. When Sideswipe backed off, though, Ratchet seemed to calm down, albeit only a little bit.

"What do we do if the Decepticons attack, then?" Sideswipe asked. Fortunately, his tone was more inquisitive and less confrontational.

"We defend ourselves and our allies," Ironhide answered. "Regardless of what these fools under Galloway's orders have told us to do."

"Have you gotten any word about the human boy? Sam?"

"No."

"Think that the Decepticons have already...?" Sideswipe didn't finish the question, knowing that it would indicate that Sam and all of his friends would be either captured or dead.

"Primus willing, they are still safe," Ironhide commented. He looked over at Ratchet, who was still working to keep Optimus's life support systems stable and online.

"Has Optimus improved at all?" Sideswipe inquired.

Ironhide turned his gaze back to Sideswipe. While Sideswipe was still being persistent, he had calmed down enough that Ironhide wasn't too concerned that he'd have to smack the younger Autobot upside the head.

"Not that we can tell," Ironhide answered solemnly.

"...slag."

After a few minutes of silence, Sideswipe lightly tapped Ironhide's shoulder that had been injured when he had fought Barricade and Thrash.

"How's the shoulder?" he asked

"It's fine and operational," Ironhide answered, shrugging his shoulder slightly, hearing the joint grind faintly. The damage was almost completely repaired, thanks to Ratchet's efforts, and only a few minor scratches and dents remained.

"Operational?" Sideswipe snickered. "You don't have to sound so clinical about it."

"Well, it's the truth," Ironhide retorted.

"All for one human, huh?" Sideswipe asked nonchalantly.

"Yes, one little, loud, and very annoying human," Ironhide grumbled.

"Did she ever get your name right, by the way?"

"...no."

"It's really not that hard," Sideswipe muttered, seeming to ponder the idea.

"I'm well aware of my own name, thank you," Ironhide said curtly.

"But apparently she isn't," Sideswipe laughed. "...but she's a good ally to Sam, right?"

"Yes, Sophie is." Ironhide wasn't too keen on referring to the coffee-addicted Sophie with nothing but pronouns. "And as grating as she may be, Sophie is not necessarily a bad human. Just...annoying."

"Humans seem to excel at that, don't they?"

"Some do. Just as do some Autobots."

Sideswipe glanced over at Ironhide, who remained quiet, but had a smirk on his features. Sideswipe made an irritated, mechanical chirp, but said nothing more.

"No, you need to tell me now if this is some sort of code!"

The two Autobots turned to see Galloway walking alongside Lennox, who was trying to outpace the man in the suit. Galloway had a single piece of paper in his hand and was stabbing at it with his index finger angrily. Lennox, however, seemed oblivious to Galloway's ranting, and instead had an odd grin on his face. He walked up to Ironhide and saluted smartly, much to the irritation of Galloway. Galloway quickly pivoted and glared up at Ironhide.

"We need to move Optimus to Egypt," Lennox said flatly.

Ironhide paused, his optics flickering slightly at he processed the statement. He'd never known Lennox to make grim jokes, but there was always a first for everything.

"Come again?" Ironhide finally asked.

"We need to get the big guy to Egypt," Lennox repeated, still grinning faintly. "We may have a way to bring him back."

"What do you mean?"

"Mind if I run this by Ratchet, too?" Lennox asked.

"Of course," Ironhide replied. He glanced over his shoulder. "Ratchet, we need your opinion on something."

Walking over from the medbay, Ratchet looked at Ironhide and then to Lennox inquisitively.

"What is it?" he asked.

"We may have a way to bring Optimus back," Lennox explained. "Got a phone call from an old...friend who's with the kid. Said that they are going to find a massive power source and that it may be able to supply enough power to bring the big guy back online."

"Did he mention what sort of power source?" Ratchet asked.

"No, said it was too dangerous to say over the phone."

"Who is this 'friend'?" Ironhide inquired dubiously.

"Former Sector Seven," Lennox answered, his awkward grin returning.

"You have got to be kidding me," Ratchet groaned.

"Yes, it's Sector Seven. The organization that was supposed to keep you aliens under lock and key!" Galloway interjected angrily. "And there was a female yelling in the background. She kept repeating all these odd word combinations, and if they're any sort of code, you are, under United States law, obligated to tell me what they mean."

"And what were these word combinations?" Ironhide asked in exasperation, already tired of Galloway's melodramatics.

"Yes, please, tell him what these word combinations are," Lennox said primly, smiling at Galloway.

Giving Lennox a confused look, Galloway looked at the piece of paper with narrow eyes.

"This was a female voice, mind you, and she was saying that we need to bring 'ironsides,' 'copperhide,' 'sideiron,' 'ironslab,' 'ironsomething,' 'ironswipe,' 'ironsteel,' and then she began repeating 'cannon-arms' over and over and over," Galloway said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Lennox fought to stifle his laughter as Ironhide visibly got more and more annoyed with each butchery of his name that Galloway read off. Sideswipe and Ratchet, on the other hand, were in fits of chuckling and laughter. Galloway looked up from the paper and looked between the Autobots quickly, then to Lennox.

"Why are they laughing? What does that mean?"

"I'm going to step on her," Ironhide growled. "I'm just going to step on her."

"Now, now, Ironhide," Ratchet chided. "There's no need to threaten our human allies."

"She is less of an ally and far more of an annoyance," Ironhide snapped back, mindful not to use Sophie's name around Galloway. "Is my name really that difficult?"

"I don't know," Ratchet answered smugly. "'Ironsomething' does have a certain ring to it."

"You're going to have a permanent ring in your audio receptors if you call me that again," Ironhide threatened.

"Are these codes?" Galloway demanded.

"Yes!" Ironhide snapped angrily. "Yes, they are. They mean that I'm going to personally hunt down a single human and shake her until her addle brain is finally capable of rendering my name properly!"

"I knew it!" Galloway cried, horror dawning on his features. "I knew it! You Autobots are no better than those Decepticons! You're not taking that rust bucket anywhere without me being there every step of the way."

Lennox looked up at Ironhide with a "really?" look on his face, but Ironhide was still seething too much to notice. Turning to Galloway, who was now going on a furious tangent about how dangerous both the Autobots and Decepticons were, Lennox rolled his eyes and nodded his head slightly.

"Very well, you can accompany us to Egypt."

"Wait? You're seriously going to try and take that giant tin can across the globe?" Galloway asked incredulously.

"Yes, we are going to take Optimus Prime to Egypt," Lennox corrected tensely. "And you are more than welcome to come along."

"You can't just fly out of here without my approval!" Galloway retorted.

"Actually, we can," Lennox snapped back. "I looked over the orders that you got and it does not state we cannot transport vehicles. And that's what we're going to do. Transport vehicles. To Egypt."

Blinking and realizing that Lennox could be right, Galloway quickly turned and began walking back to his desk that he had set up at the base, yelling at one of the soldiers to get him a copy of the orders he had brought with him. Shaking his head, Lennox looked up at Ironhide.

"You okay there, Ironhide?" he asked, chuckling.

"I was somewhat serious about stomping on her," Ironhide grumbled.

"Oh come on, you know you wouldn't," Lennox laughed.

"Fine, maybe not stomp, but it should be possible to somehow place one of those...Sticky Notes, I believe is what you humans call them, to her forehead with my proper name printed on it," Ironhide sighed.

Lennox said nothing and just shook his head, laughing as he walked over to where Galloway was filing through the order papers with growing fluster. Sideswipe glanced over at Ironhide, who still appeared to be seething over the whole situation. Trying to mask his smirk, Sideswipe patted Ironhide on the back lightly.

"Don't worry, old man, I'm she means it all in the name of being a loving ally," Sideswipe crooned.

Ratchet burst into a fit of new laughter, staggering slightly. Ironhide glared at Sideswipe, but said nothing, fuming but, oddly enough, seemed to be fighting back a faint grin. After a few minutes, Ironhide looked over to the med-bay and then to Ratchet.

"Can we safely transport Optimus?" he asked.

"I can put a few stabilizers in place where there's some of the major damage," Ratchet answered, almost sounding like he was thinking out loud. "And put a few welds that should keep the spark casing from being jarred. But if there's any chance we can get Optimus back online, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure he's safely transported."

Nodding, Ironhide looked over to where Galloway was standing, obviously speechless and frustrated, and Lennox was walking through the hangar, issuing orders to N.E.S.T. soldiers. The soldiers were all too happy to start working again, and immediately began setting to work to get two of the Ospreys that they had available ready to transport the Autobots.

They were heading to Egypt.


	20. Chapter 20

()

Finally, mercifully, night had fallen on the desert and the air had dropped to chilling temperatures. The group had found shelter in a building near one of the pyramids, and Sam and Mikaela had sequestered themselves on a little bit of a perch and were having a hushed conversation. Simmons and Leo were passed out with Leo snuggled up to Simmons. After cursing up a small storm that she didn't have her phone to take a video for blackmail opportunities later, Sophie wandered around the pyramid, gazing up at it. The stars that glistened overhead seemed to be incredibly bright compared to how the appeared back in the States.

"Hey, yo! Watch where you're goin'!" Skids sudden yell made Sophie jump back. She had almost walked right into the smaller Autobot, who frowned down at her. "You have sight problems or something?"

"Sorry," Sophie cried, stepping back. "I've never seen the pyramids up close."

"Well, now you have. And you sure don't need to be seeing me up close!" Skids retorted, making a shooing gesture with his hands.

"'Now play nice, you two,'" Bumblebee radioed. He had been seated on a sand dune, but when Skids began yelling at Sophie, the Autobot scout had stood up and walked over to make sure that the two didn't get in a shouting match.

Skids looked over at Bumblebee, crossing his arms.

"This little bleach blonde human has some sort of eyesight problem or somethin'!"

Bumblebee made a mechanical sigh and shook his head before giving Skids an exasperated look. Sophie looked between the two Transformers quickly, waiting for a response from either of them. Finally, Skids snorted derisively and wandered off, yelling at Mudflap. Sophie sighed and looked up at Bumblebee, who turned his gaze to the scrawny human.

"I excel at just pissing you guys off, don't I?" she asked dejectedly.

Tilting his head to one side, Bumblebee studied Sophie for a few minutes, then quickly shook his head, again making a mechanical "no, no" sound. After a few moments, Bumblebee then played back Sophie's voice as she struggled to say Ironhide's name properly. Sophie listened to about seven different renditions before covering her ears and loudly singing. Bumblebee promptly cut the recording off, then, after Sophie had stopped her horrendous yell-singing, shrugged.

"He's going to kill me, isn't he?"

Bumblebee tilted his head questioningly.

"Ironhide, he's going to stomp on me first chance he gets, isn't he?" Sophie asked. She then paused and blinked. "What the hell? I can say his name when it doesn't matter, but when there is valuable information to be shared it's like I turn into the Rainman of name enunciation. And why him? Why the guy with cannons on his arms the size of Volkswagens? Why couldn't I have trouble saying the name of one of the nicer, slightly less gun-crazy, one of you? Like the medic?"

Though he said nothing, Bumblebee was trying to think of how many different ways a human could change the word "Ratchet" before it was simply jibberish. So far he could only think of three, but he wouldn't underestimate Sophie's rather impressive power of name butchery.

"He-he...won't stomp...on-n you."

Sophie seemed a bit surprised to hear Bumblebee's actual voice, and stepped a bit closer, albeit nervously. Bumblebee sat down on the cool sand, trying to seem as friendly as possible. While Sam and Mikaela, and even Leo, to some extent, had gotten over their apprehension towards Bumblee, Sophie seemed to still be struggling. Bumblebee couldn't blame her, though. Anybody who had to deal with Ironhide's cantankerous attitude and temper would be, at the very least, apprehensive. Scared witless might be a better description...

"You sure?" Sophie asked, peering up at Bumblebee, studying him closely.

Bumblebee stayed relatively still, even as Sophie lightly patted one of the armor plates on his shoulder. Humans were incredibly reliant on the sense of feel, particularly when it came to making something seem less threatening.

"Seve-seventy-five per-percent sure."

Her face blanched a few shades paler and Sophie paused, looking at Bumblebee with wide eyes. She was standing close to the Autobot now, and the scout had to give her credit for her newfound curiosity...and her ability to refrain from making any sort of sarcastic quip.

"'Seventy-five percent?'" she repeated. "You're an alien robot with incredibly advanced technology and you're only seventy-five percent sure?"

Well, at least she'd been able to go ten minutes without making a sarcastic quip...

"This is-is Ironhide we-we're talking abou-about," Bumblebee reminded.

"Oh yeah, huh?" Sophie chewed on her lip ring nervously. She looked at Bumblebee, then lightly tapped underneath her right eye. "Do you guys' eyes have to dilate and such due to sunlight?"

"Optics," Bumblebee corrected. "While the-they do not dilate a-as human eyes do, they do adjust acc-accordingly for light al-alterations."

"Do you have anything cool?" Sophie asked excitedly. "Like X-ray vision or the ability to see heat signatures like the Predator?"

"No X-ray vi-vision, but we can pi-pick up on heat signatures. Even tho-those left by humans."

"You should totally get those three aiming lasers like the Predator does. Do you know how many people you could freak out with that?"

"Do we real-really need help in frea-freaking out humans?" Bumblebee queried, laughing slightly.

"Oh," Sophie said, pursing her lips. "Good point. Never mind. ...but still, it'd be pretty cool. And who knows, maybe you could put the fear of whatever god you believe in into those Decepticons?"

"Maybe. And-and it's Primus," Bumblebee commented.

"Who?"

"Primus."

"Is he like the god of the Transformers?"

"Yes," Bumblebee answered. "In the essence of the way that you hu-humans view a god."

"Wow...he must be one bad-ass guy."

Stifling a laugh, Bumblebee just shook his head. Sophie seemed a little confused by his response, but said nothing. She paced back and forth slowly, occasionally looking up at Bumblebee.

"So...what happened to old Ironhide's eye?" Sophie asked, again tapping near her right eye. "He get in a fight with a weed whacker or something?"

Bumblebee quickly shook his head, once again fighting the urge to laugh.

"No, no...Decepticons," he answered.

"Ah, figures," Sophie muttered, shrugging. "He said you guys have been fighting the Decepticons for a long time, huh?"

Bumblebee nodded.

"So is it some sort of unspoken law that you Autobots aren't allowed to squish alien races? Or are you all just a bunch of really, really patient people...er, robots?" Sophie continued. "Because I think that I would have squished me by this point. You guys must have the patience of saints or something."

"Both, re-really," Bumblebee answered. "Op-Optimus Prime believes that free-freedom is the right to all sentient be-beings. And we Autobots prefer ex-exploration rather than conquest."

"Mister Crankypants Ironhide prefers exploration over blasting stuff to bits?"

"Ironhide was...once a part of-of Megatron's Cybertronian De-Defense Force," Bumblebee said somewhat quietly.

"Wait...Ironhide served the bad guy?"

"Megatron was not-not always evil," Bumblebee commented morosely. "But yes, Ironhide ser-served as captain of the De-Defense Force. And exploration is not with-without its perils. Having a weapons spe-specialist is useful."

"Wow," Sophie murmured, once again lightly chewing on her lip ring. "So Ironhide's been around for a while, huh?"

"Yes."

"One tough gunslinger," Sophie giggled. "But yeah, guess it makes sense. Don't want to go exploring some planet that tries to eat you and be without the trigger-happy guy, right?"

"More-more or less."

"So...do I need to get him an apology card or something?" Sophie asked. "You know, a card that says, 'Sorry I can't pronounce your name when you're around, but my yellow Autobot friend has at least one recording of me saying your name right when you're not around.'"

"I think a sim-simple apology would work better," Bumblebee laughed.

"I'll try that next time I see him, then," Sophie said with a faint smile. "That is, if I live long enough."

Bumblebee started to say something, but stopped when he heard Sam shouting for Simmons and Leo to wake up. Rolling her eyes slightly, Sophie smirked.

"Witwicker man has got his undies in a bunch again." Turning to where she could hear Sam yelling, Sophie frowned slightly. "Hey! Sam! Yell a little louder. I don't think they heard you in Scotland!"

"Hey! Get over here!" Sam cried back. "You need to be a part of this conversation so I don't have to repeat myself."

"Sir! Yes, sir! As you order, sir!" Sophie yelled smartly, sprinting over to the group.

"Ha ha," Sam said, rolling his eyes. He then turned and pointed towards three stars that were still shining brightly in the sky, regardless of the fact that dawn was slowly breaking. "Okay, you see those three stars? You see how the last one touches the horizon? That's Orion's belt, but it's also called the Three Kings. And the reason for that is the three Egyptian kings who built the pyramids of Giza built them to mirror those stars, so it's like an arrow staring us straight in the face."

"They all point due east, towards Jordan. The mountains of Petra," Simmons added.

"So we need to get driving," Mikaela said quietly.

"Wait, wait...are you sure it's a good idea to go hauling off and start driving around the Egyptian desert?" Sophie asked. "I don't know if you noticed or not, Sam, but Simmons had to put on his best Miss America smile to get us through that border patrol check point with the angry midget."

"First up, they're called vertically challenged," Sam corrected. "And secondly, we can't just sit around, either. N.E.S.T. is bringing Optimus and we have to be as ready as possible, because you can guarantee that the Decepticons are going to be in hot pursuit."


	21. Chapter 21

As Lennox rapidly instructed Galloway on how to properly jump out of a perfectly working airplane, it took everything Ironhide had not to simply transform and kick Galloway out of the plane himself. Though as he watched the panic start to dawn on Galloway's face and Lennox only speak faster, Ironhide grinned inwardly. He knew there was a reason that he and Lennox had gotten along so well.

"Not now! We're on the plane, dumb-ass!" Lennox yelled. But his warning was too late.

Suddenly, Galloway yanked on the primary cord for the chute and the parachute snapped open, the fabric immediately going taut and Galloway was suddenly yanked out of the plane, his panicked yelling fading in the loud droning of the Osprey plane.

"Did he say good-bye?" Epps asked, walking over to Lennox.

"No, he didn't even say good-bye," Lennox replied, shaking his head slightly.

"Damn...I know you're heartbroken over it," Epps stated, struggling not to grin.

"General," one of the soldiers piped up, "we're loaded and ready. You give us the go and we'll be ready to go in five minutes."

With a muffled grunt, Ironhide transformed, shrugging off the heavy netting that had been draped over him in vehicle form. He wasn't quite sure if it had been an attempt to keep him from rolling out of the Osprey, or if it had been Galloway's method of insulting him in thinking that a simple net would have kept him from trying to punt the annoying human out of the plane.

"Feeling better?" Lennox asked, grinning.

"Much," Ironhide answered gruffly, having to crouch to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling of the Osprey. "Though was the net really necessary?"

"It was for our safety," Lennox answered, rolling his eyes. "You know, because there's no way that you could have possibly gotten out from under the netting and transformed and then escaped or anything."

That was another part of human humor that Ironhide was still struggling to understand. For some reason, humans found it hilarious to state the obvious with either a lot of enthusiasm or none at all.

"Have you heard anything on the boy or his companions?" Ironhide inquired.

The Osprey suddenly lurched, the engine roaring as the large plane turned. Lennox staggered and stifled a curse, but Ironhide caught him before the soldier fell to the floor of the Osprey.

"Thanks," Lennox said quickly, glancing up at Ironhide. The Autobot simply nodded in response. "Haven't heard anything on them yet, but-"

"CIA just got a hit on the boy," Epps called out.

Lennox looked over at Epps as he handed over a scrap of paper with coordinates hastily scribbled on it.

"That's almost a hundred miles from where we were headed," Lennox answered.

"They also said they heard a eardrum splitting shriek right at the end of the phone call," Epps added.

"Phone call?"

"Yeah, the CIA picked up a phone call, but they said right at the end they heard some scuffling for the phone and then some woman began shrieking into the phone. They promptly hung up afterwards."

"Hey, bonus, we know that Sophie's still alive," Lennox commented.

Ironhide sighed heavily and shook his head.

"Does she always have to shriek if she's not getting her way?" Ironhide grumbled.

"Well, at least she's making her opinion known, you know," Epps pointed out. "Some guys like outspoken girls."

"Are those males deaf?" Ironhide asked incredulously. "My audio receptors are damaged and she still hits decibels that make me flinch."

"Aw, c'mon big guy," Epps laughed, lightly punching the side of Ironhide's leg. "You know you love her."

Ironhide just snorted derisively in response.

()

"This isn't how it's supposed to end," Sam whispered hoarsely, desperately trying to scoop the now powdered remains of the Matrix into his sock.

Sophie watched him with a depressed look on her face, occasionally trying to push over a small dune of the Matrix remnants.

"Sorry, Sam," Sophie muttered.

"You can't bring him back, Sam," Mikaela said gently.

"We have to at least try," Sophie argued quietly.

As a low hum began to fill the air, the three exchanged glances quickly.

"You hear that?"

"Sounds like a helicopter or something," Sophie muttered.

"The Air Force is here!" Simmons yelled. "It's C-17s!"

"How does he know this?" Sophie cried.

As the humans scrabbled out of the Tomb of the Primes, they began scanning the skies. Leo glanced over at Sam, who was still tightly clinging to the sock.

"You can't bring him back, man."

"We didn't just go through everything we went through for no reason at all, to just have it end like this," Sam argued fervently. "There is a reason that we are here. The voices and the symbols in my head led us here for a purpose. Everyone's after me because of what I know, and what I know is that this is going to work."

"How do you know it's going to work?" Sophie asked in disbelief. She didn't like siding against Sam, but at this point, after watching the Matrix disintegrate into sand, she wasn't sure what else there was that they could do. Were they going to just sprinkle it on Optimus or what?

"Because I believe it will," Sam replied back quickly.

"This isn't some Disney movie, man!" Leo cried, waving his hands slightly.

"Whoa, whoa!" Sophie cried, spotting one of the C-17s. "There's one of them!"

"We've got to get to where they're dropping off Optimus," Sam yelled.

"Let's go, let's go!" Simmons ordered.

"Yeah, because what's the worst that could go wrong?" Sophie muttered.

()

Within thirty minutes, Sophie was regretting the statement profusely. When Megatron had given the order for the Decepticons to attack, the entire desert seemed to have erupted into a mess of sand, explosions, and mayhem. Leo and Simmons had stayed gone with the twins to try and draw the fire of the Decepticons, and Bumblebee had gone to try and distract the Decepticons as best as possible so that Sam, Mikaela, and Sophie could get to Optimus.

But when the roof of one of the buildings they had been running past had suddenly burst into a spray of rock and debris, Sophie had had to scramble back, towards the oncoming Decepticons. Sam and Mikaela stopped, starting to run back towards the piling debris.

"Go, go!" Sophie screamed, waving her arm. "I'll catch up! Just get to Optimus!"

"Are you sure?" Sam cried, glancing over his shoulder.

"Go!" Sophie shrieked before sprinting back through the maze of buildings that were quickly being decimated.

Her pulse was already pounding in her head, and the sand was sinking up to her ankles as she tried to avoid being seen by one of the Decepticons. She could hear the mechanical, garbled roaring as the Decepticons drew closer. She couldn't understand what they were saying, but Sophie was fairly certain that it wasn't anything pleasant.

As she raced towards one of the buildings, Sophie crashed against the door, and it suddenly gave way, sending her sprawling onto the floor with a grunt. For the first time since she'd encountered Barricade, Sophie felt a sharp jab of panic stab in her chest. A hoarse sob escaped her throat, the bitter taste of dust coating her mouth. Quickly getting to her feet, Sophie huddled back into the corner of the room she'd managed to fall into, feeling the very ground beneath her shake. The deafening roars of the Decepticons were all around her by this point, and it did nothing to slow down the racing rhythm of her heartbeat.

Clapping her hands over her ears, Sophie gritted her teeth, feeling grit crunch between them, and tried to drown out the noises for just long enough to get her nerve back. It was enough to let her get her breath, and Sophie stumbled to her feet and, after glancing around quickly, scrabbled out of a broken window. Wincing as she felt the glass cut into her hands, Sophie lunged off the windowsill and fell onto the sand.

...right to the feet of a Decepticon.

For a few seconds, the giant robot didn't even notice her, but when Sophie gasped involuntarily at the sight of the towering, murderous creature, it whirled around, snarling and rifle the size of a small bus at the ready.

With a panicked shriek, Sophie darted back, trying to get back into the building. The Decepticon answered by swinging the rifle around in a wide arc, decimating the rooftop of the building and causing it to collapse inward. It gave Sophie enough time to start sprinting down the sand covered street with another hoarse scream.

The Decepticon immediately gave pursuit, and, much to Sophie's horror, was laughing diabolically the entire way. He swung the rifle once again, causing a tidal wave of sand to cascade of Sophie, obscuring her vision and causing her to cough uncontrollably. As another strangled yell escaped her in between her coughing, Sophie fell into an alleyway, stumbling as she tried to get her breath back and clear the sand from her eyes.

"Sophie!"

Hearing her name yelled out caused her to pause. Immediately recognizing the voice, but not believing it, Sophie looked around quickly, still making her way down the alleyway, wanting to put as much distance between her and the oncoming Decepticon as possible.

"Ironhide?" she cried. "Ironhide! Ironhide! Where are you?"

"Sophie! Keep running! I may have a fix on your position, just keep running!"

"Ironhide! Decepticon! Decepticon after me! It's got a really big gun! It's after me!"

"Just keep running!"

She didn't need any more coaxing. Sophie darted down the alleyway, her sides heaving by this point, and jumped back into another sand covered street. She could hear the Decepticon still laughing, but now it sounded a bit more angry than humored.

"Sophie!"

Turning around, Sophie saw Ironhide, his right shoulder already sparking from blast damage and his left leg looked to be charred by fire, but the injuries weren't slowing him down. Sophie staggered towards Ironhide, still struggling to catch her breath.

"I never thuh-thought I'd-I'd be so happy to-to-see your-your ugly face!" Sophie cried, half gasping and half sobbing.

"Are you injured?" Ironhide yelled, spying the blood on Sophie's hands.

"No! I just...I just...I can't...I can't breathe!" Sophie answered, clutching at her side.

The Decepticon that had been chasing Sophie suddenly burst through the alleyway she had darted down, but when it saw Ironhide, it hesitated momentarily. Sophie made a panicked squeak, but Ironhide didn't pause. He fired two blasts at the Decepticon, then scooped Sophie up and set her near his right shoulder. She didn't need any further orders. Sophie scrambled onto his shoulder and huddled against his shoulder plate.

"Hold on!" Ironhide ordered.

"To what?" Sophie cried.

"Just don't fall!"

Looking around quickly, Sophie grabbed the edge of Ironhide's shoulder plate, trying to be mindful of the jagged edges and the damage that had been inflicted. Wincing, Sophie lightly traced the scorched edges from where she could only guess a plasma blast had struck Ironhide.

Ironhide suddenly yelled something at the Decepticon, again in the same mechanical language that Sophie could never hope to understand, and it was enough to infuriate the Decepticon into charging straight at him. Sophie shrieked and braced herself, but Ironhide seemed nonplussed. He took one step towards the Decepticon, and then landed a punch straight on the Decepticon's jaw...followed up by a blast from the cannon on his wrist.

There was a blast of sparks and shrapnel, and Ironhide quickly turned away, shielding Sophie from the flying bits of metal. The Decepticon made a garbled growl before collapsing, bright orange mech fluid spouting from the now exposed insides of its head. Ironhide glanced over, and while he couldn't see her completely, he could still feel Sophie scrambling about and trying to keep her footing on his shoulder.

"Are you all right?" he asked quickly.

"Yeah, I think so," Sophie answered breathlessly. "How about you? You look a little banged up here, old man."

"It's nothing," Ironhide retorted, glancing around. He was already seeing at least two other Decepticons converging on his position, and while two Decepticons normally would not be an issue for Ironhide, he once again found his main priority keeping Sophie safe.

"Ironhide!" Sophie whimpered, shrinking against his shoulder plate. "There's more Decepticons!"

"I can see them!" Ironhide replied. "We have to move!"

With that, he began to down the sand covered streets, feeling Sophie jar slightly before she managed to get her footing back. Activating his comm link, Ironhide glanced around, trying to see if he could see any of his Autobot comrades. Much to his chagrin, he couldn't see any of them.

"Sideswipe!" he yelled into the comm link. "Sideswipe! Come in!"

"Hear you loud and clear, 'Hide!" Sideswiped answered after a screech of static.

"I've found Sophie, but we've got Decepticons converging on all points."

"Tell me something I don't know!"

"We're getting closer to your position, but if I'm going to be able to get Sophie to safety, we're going to need cover fire!"

"Don't know if that's going to be possible!"

"Then make it possi-"

"Ironhide! Look out!"

Sophie's shrieked warning was too late.


	22. Chapter 22

()

Sideswipe had heard the communication link get interrupted with a blast of static immediately after Sophie's panicked shrieking. He dared a quick look over his shoulder, where he heard the plasma cannon go off, but all he could see was plumes of smoke and clouds of dust. His optics flicked back and forth quickly as he tried to see through the chaos, but as a Decepticon began to charge him, Sideswipe was forced to change his attention to his attacker.

The comm link was still just hissing static.

()

Slowly, Sophie began to get her senses back. Her world had been violently tossed upside down and every which way for a few, hellish seconds before Sophie had been thrown hard onto the hot sands. As she coughed and tried to get to her feet, a dark shadow suddenly cast over Sophie completely.

With a panicked gasp, Sophie flipped over, expecting a Decepticon to be standing over her, ready to stomp on her. But instead she almost hit her head on the palm of Ironhide's hand. Glancing around quickly, she realized that Ironhide was keeping her covered with his hand as best he could. And when a plasma blast struck less than a foot away, sending sand and white-hot sparks into the air, Sophie was ever more grateful.

"Ironhide!" she screamed, her voice choked and hoarse.

"Stay down!" Ironhide ordered.

Huddling back down on the sand, still trying to catch her breath, Sophie could barely see as Ironhide fired three consecutive blasts at the Decepticon that had chased her. The blasts knocked him to his knees, but didn't knock the tenacious attacker down.

Looking around, Ironhide saw another Decepticon crashing through the weak human structures, closing the gap between him and Ironhide. Snarling and training his wrist cannon on the Decepticon, Ironhide fired two more blasts. But the Decepticon had been anticipating the attacks and managed to dodge both. Hissing a furious curse, Ironhide fired another shot in frustrated anger. He could feel Sophie scrabbling back against his hand, trying to shield herself as much as possible from the stray plasma blast that would hit too close for her comfort.

Getting to his feet, Ironhide once again scooped Sophie up. This time, there was no struggle. In fact, she felt somewhat limp. Looking over at the small human, Ironhide scanned her vitals before backing away, turning his attention and firing another blast at the oncoming Decepticon. This one struck, and while it only slowed the Decepticon down, it was enough...for the moment.

"Sophie!"

"What?" Sophie shrieked back angrily.

"Are you all right?"

"Does it look like I'm all right? I'm being shot at by alien robots bigger than semi trucks in the middle of the damn Egyptian desert! No I'm not all right!" As if to emphasize her point, Sophie flailed her arms slightly and kicked her feet.

At least her lungs were working.

Grumbling something under his breath, Ironhide swiftly set Sophie back on his shoulder. With both hands now free, he was able to keep both Decepticons at bay. Apparently he had wounded the first Decepticon more than he had given himself credit for. He was still struggling to stand steady, but the second Decepticon, if anything, had only been infuriated more by Ironhide's attack. He lunged at Ironhide, but Ironhide managed to grab the Decepticon by one of its outstretched arms and throw him into one of the last standing buildings.

Sophie was pressed against his shoulder plate, clinging on for dear life. Under normal circumstances, Ironhide would have had Sophie take cover while he dealt with the Decepticons. But these were far from normal circumstances. If he set Sophie down, it would be all too easy for her to be lost in the mayhem.

"Ironhide! Behind you! Behind you!" Sophie suddenly yelled, panickingly and repeatedly hitting the side of Ironhide's head.

While he normally would have been quite irritated by the gesture, Ironhide recognized Sophie's terror and wheeled around, cannons at the ready.

Sophie screamed and backed away as far as she could without falling off Ironhide's shoulder. The Decepticon was less than three feet from them and Ironhide wasted no time in shooting his opponent at point blank, smiling grimly as the Decepticon staggered back before falling, a gaping hole in its chest.

"Thank you," Ironhide said gruffly, glancing over slightly in Sophie's direction.

"You're welcome," Sophie stammered weakly.

"Are you injured?" Ironhide thought better of asking if Sophie was 'all right.' He wanted to avoid another of Sophie's shrieking tirades, though after hearing Sophie's meek response, Ironhide doubted that she had much energy left to be screaming.

"I...don't think so," Sophie answered. "But what about you? Your shoulder's all sorts of bashed up!"

"I'm fine," Ironhide replied sternly, turning around as he faced the Decepticon he had hurled into the building just minutes before. Fortunately it was still slowly getting to its feet.

Sophie murmured something, but she couldn't be heard over the rest of the chaos around them. Ironhide fired four shots, two from each cannon, on the Decepticon target. All four shots hit, and the Decepticon collapsed and didn't move.

"Hide?"

Oddly enough, Sophie's now-soft voice seemed to be the loudest sound on the battlefield in that moment.

"Yes?" Ironhide answered, once again turning his head slightly in Sophie's direction.

"Are we actually going to get out of this alive?"

The question itself was not one that was unfamiliar to Ironhide. It had been asked by numerous recruits under his command on the battlefield, and even, on occasion, by veterans of combat. But to be asked by this small human, almost still a child by Ironhide's standards, the question seemed foreign.

"Yes, of course we are," Ironhide answered, his tone seemingly nonchalant.

"...okay." Sophie shifted her weight slightly, still clinging to Ironhide's shoulder, but her entire body was trembling.

"You doubt me?" Ironhide chuckled roughly, making an attempt to try and calm Sophie down. "I've managed to get you out of a scrap with Decepticons before, haven't I?"

"Yeah, I owe you two now, big guy," Sophie replied with a timid smile.

"You owe me nothing." Not waiting for Sophie to answer, Ironhide reactivated his comm link. "Sideswipe! Come in, Sideswipe!"

"You still in one piece, you old scrap metal?"

"Affirmative," Ironhide responded, starting to run towards Sideswipe's location. "But if you call me that again, you certainly won't stay in one piece for long."

"Oh yeah, you're fine!" Sideswipe laughed. "Where are you?"

"I'm making my way to your location," Ironhide answered.

"You find your little shrieky friend?"

Ironhide didn't have to answer

"I'm not shrieky!" Sophie yelled in protest.

"I'll take that as a yes, then," Sideswipe said shortly.

Sophie blinked and huddled back down, sighing heavily. She felt utterly exhausted and her whole body ached. But adrenaline was still pumping through her veins, and Sophie kept a death grip on the plating of Ironhide's shoulder. She looked up and saw a jagged cut running down Ironhide's right optic.

"Hey, hey! Hide!"

"What?"

"Your eye! Er...optic! Peeper! The thing you see with!"

"What about it?" Ironhide asked, sounding confused.

"Is that hurt, too?"

"Old injury!"

Sophie fell silent, looking around quickly. There were still Decepticons all over the place, but they were, at least at the moment, preoccupied with other targets. She was already feeling queasy from riding on Ironhide's shoulder, but Sophie was more than happy to deal with an upset stomach if it kept her from being back on the ground where she was fair game to any Decepticon.

Another blast suddenly slammed into Ironhide's back, knocking him to his knees. With a short shriek, Sophie was thrown clean off his shoulder and sent hurtling through the air. Lunging forward, Ironhide managed to catch her before Sophie hit the ground, but he felt the armor on his back snap and twist in a way it wasn't meant to. Wincing, Ironhide got back to his knees, looking over his shoulder quickly, trying to see his attacker.

It didn't take long. The Decepticon was already walking towards him, grinning maniacally and promising to send Ironhide straight to the Pit.

"Shoot him! Shoot him!" Sophie yelled in panic, scrambling off Ironhide's hand.

Taking advantage of having both hands now free, Ironhide turned to face his attacker. The Decepticon crashed into him, driving a fist down into the injury on Ironhide's shoulder. Snarling in a mix of frustration and pain, Ironhide hurled the Decepticon over his shoulder, staggering and gripping at his shoulder. While the damage hadn't been too bad initially, the Decepticon had managed to make it much worse.

"Ironhide!"

Sophie's panicked scream immediately snagged Ironhide's attention, and he looked over his shoulder to see the Decepticon charging at Sophie. Sophie herself was scrambling back, shrieking in terror and trying to put as much distance as possible between her and her Decepticon attacker. With a maniacal laugh, the Decepticon kicked Sophie, sending the small human flying through the air. Sophie crashed into the sand, wincing and twisting as she struggled to get to her feet.

Quickly jumping to his feet, Ironhide charged at the Decepticon, growling a curse in Cybertronian. It was just foul enough that Ironhide didn't need Sophie to hear it.

The Autobot weapons specialist collided with the Decepticon at full-force, knocking the Decepticon to the ground. Ironhide stomped on the Decepticon's hand, crushing it underneath his foot. Grinning grimly at the Decepticon's roar of pain, Ironhide then pointed one of his wrist cannon's straight at the Decepcticon's head. Firing, Ironhide turned away from the spray of sparks, shrapnel, and mech fluid.

"Sophie!" Ironhide yelled, staggering over to where Sophie was still fighting to get to her feet. "Sophie! Are you all right?"

Coughing, Sophie winced and clutched at her sides. She rolled over onto her back, looking up at Ironhide. The wind had been knocked clean out of her, and her entire rib cage seemed to be on fire.

"Getting...getting...kicked...by one...of you guys...is...is like...getting hit...by a...truck!" she gasped hoarsely.

Snarling under his breath, Ironhide carefully scooped Sophie up and did another quick scan of her vitals. Her heart was now pounding furiously and her lungs seemed to be struggling to intake enough air.

"Is anything broken?" he asked grimly.

With what appeared to be great effort, Sophie took in another breath of air, wincing and gingerly pressing her fingertips on her ribcage. She arched her back slightly before relaxing and shaking her head.

"Don't...don't think...so," she wheezed.

"Good," Ironhide replied, standing up. His shoulder sparked in an angry response, but he ignored it for now. It was something he could get repaired at a later time.

Sophie coughed again, but this time she sounded as though she was finally starting to be able to breathe properly. She sat up and looked at Ironhide with a beleaguered expression, but said nothing. If anything, Sophie knew there was little that could be said. The last time she'd been this close to being killed, she'd been in a small Toyota car that had been T-boned by a semi truck.

Ironically enough, she very well could die at the hands of a different vehicle. Although, in this case, it would be a very literal sense as Sophie was pretty sure, at this point, the Decepticons would be more than happy to tear her apart limb from limb.

Ironhide once again lifted her up to his shoulder, and Sophie cautiously climbed on, doing her best to ignore the now smoking injury.

"You gonna' make it, old man?" she asked.

"This is hardly the worst I've dealt with," Ironhide said with a grim chuckle.

Sophie frowned in mollification, but said nothing. Ironhide began to make his way to where he could now see Sideswipe fending off two Decepticons. While the smaller Autobot was far faster than his attackers, there was no way he was able to outgun both of them. One hit from either of them had the potential to put Sideswipe in a world of hurt. And, of course, the cocky Autobot was sticking to using his blades to cut through the Decepticons.

"Hold on," Ironhide muttered to Sophie. He felt her grip the plating on his shoulder tightly.

That was all the cue he needed...

Charging forward, Ironhide caught the nearest Decepticon by surprise, bringing the barrel of his left wrist cannon down between the sharp shoulder blades of the Decepticon. The Decepticon made a rattling howl and Sophie shrieked in response, scrambling back on Ironhide's shoulder as much as she could. Ignoring the noises for the time being, Ironhide narrowed his optics and fired, feeling the sharp sting of heat and plasma burn as it hit his left arm.

The blast did its job, though, and it tore clean through the Decepticon.


	23. Chapter 23

The Decepticon managed a short, garbled crackling noise before collapsing, smoke rising from the gaping hole.

"Is it dead?" Sophie asked warily, her voice trembling.

"Yes, _he_ is dead," Ironhide answered grimly. While he had no qualms about bringing down a Decepticon, he didn't feel it was right to refer to any fallen fighter as an "it" unless such a nonchalant description had been earned.

"Sorry. He." Sophie's voice almost sounded like it was cracking.

"Are you injured?" Ironhide asked.

"No."

Sideswipe looked at Ironhide, seeming slightly puzzled, but he said nothing. Ironhide ignored the younger Autobot's look for the moment, glancing around quickly for any incoming Decepticons. For the moment, he saw none.

"The volume of your voice would indicate possible injury," Ironhide stated in a matter-of-factly tone.

"...I'm scared, 'Hide," Sophie finally admitted after a long stretch of silence.

Ironhide stopped, appearing to be taken aback by Sophie's admittance. Sideswipe looked between the two quickly, but remained silent. After a few moments, Ironhide chuckled gruffly and shrugged slightly, careful not to knock Sophie off balance.

"Scared of what? A few punk Decepticons?"

"Um...said punk Decepticons are ten times my height and over a million times my weight!" Sophie laughed nervously.

"That's why you're not the one fighting them," Ironhide reminded. "Though I appreciate the fact you're able to get my name halfway correct."

Sophie blinked, realizing she'd managed to avoid butchering Ironhide's name...even if it was just half of his name. She then grinned and patted Ironhide lightly on the side of the head.

"And all it took was the end of the world," she crooned.

"Wonderful," Sideswipe commented sarcastically. "While I'd love to stand here and listen to you both continue to chit chat, I'm not exactly fond of the idea of being a standing target for the horde of Decepticons we're still facing."

Ironhide looked at Sideswipe and started to say something in response, but was cut short when the unmistakable sound of a missile being fired began to rattle the air. The two Autobots turned to see a volley of missile fire arcing through the air and slowly start their descent towards them.

"Go, go!" Ironhide ordered.

Both he and Sideswipe began sprinting through the rubble and sand as the missiles began to hammer the ground, sending plumes of sand, rock, and white-hot sparks into the air. Sophie shrieked and fell against Ironhide's shoulder, wildly patting her hands on her head as the sparks struck her hair, causing it to smolder and smoke.

Not giving her a chance to protest, Ironhide snatched Sophie off his shoulder and tried to shield her as best he could from the rain of sparks and rubble. Managing only a surprised squeak, Sophie crouched down, still flinching and ducking her head as the missiles continued to hail down around them.

"By Primus!" Sideswipe cursed, barely avoiding getting his arm torn off by a falling missile. "They're certainly putting on one slagging show for the Fallen!"

"This is just a show?" Sophie cried, looking at Ironhide in panic.

In an ironic response, one of the missiles struck dangerously close to Ironhide and Sideswipe.

"The Decepticons do not tend to shirk their duties when it comes to destroying things," Ironhide grumbled.

"You would know, huh?" Sideswipe asked, his tone nothing short of reckless.

Sophie looked up at Ironhide in dawning terror, and Ironhide shot Sideswipe a cold, disapproving scowl. Now was not the time to be terrorizing Sophie with Ironhide's past.

"Hide!" Sophie yelled, pointing up at the sky. "Incoming!"

He hadn't heard the shriek of the missile until it was too late, and by that point, it was either brace for the impact or turn and try to shoot the missile before it could hit. But that also put Sophie facing the missile as well.

Glancing down at the blonde haired human that was currently scrabbling around in his hands wildly, Ironhide braced for the impact.

The initial explosion almost knocked Ironhide off his feet, but even though he staggered, Ironhide managed to stay standing. It was then that the pain suddenly hit his circuits, and warning systems began to go off, telling his processor the damage was nearing critical levels. Ironhide had heard those warning systems before. By Primus if they weren't annoying...

His damaged shoulder, though, was sparking furiously, and he could feel the mech fluid welling up around the injury on his back.

"Ironhide!"

Sophie's panicked screaming snapped Ironhide out of slight daze as he had been diagnosing how bad his injuries were.

"What?" he shouted back gruffly.

"Your shoulder is on _fire_!"

Sure enough, the damage on his shoulder seemed to have sparked a small fire, and Ironhide quickly transferred Sophie to his right hand before working on trying to brush the flames away.

Sideswipe wasn't faring much better.

The smaller Autobot must have sustained injuries during some of the impacts that Ironhide hadn't been able to track, as there was a large gouge across Sideswipe's left side and his left arm blade was badly scorched and looked to be dented. And it looked as though a piece of shrapnel must have cut across Sideswipe's face, as mech fluid was dripping down the right side of his face.

"You going to make it, old man?" Sideswipe asked loudly.

"I was about to ask you the same thing!" Ironhide laughed grimly.

There was another explosion, this one came from in front of them, and they heard a shout, but it was Sophie that saw Sam hurtle through the air and slam into the ground...and then he didn't move.

"Sam?" she whispered, her throat tightening. "Sam!"

Suddenly leaping out of Ironhide's hand, Sophie sprinted towards where she had seen Sam fall.

"Sam!" she screamed.

"Sophie!" Ironhide yelled.

Ignoring the Autobot for now, Sophie continued to run as fast as she could to where she'd seen her friend get thrown to.

By the time she got to where she could see Sam, Lennox was already desperately trying to revive the young man. Two other soldiers were holding back a frantic Mikaela, and just as Sophie started to try and scrabble to Sam's side, Ironhide suddenly scooped her back up.

"Let me go!" Sophie demanded, kicking at Ironhide's hand angrily.

The Autobot said nothing, but kept Sophie from leaping from his grasp as she threw a minor temper tantrum trying to get free. Kicking furiously, Sophie tried to pry herself free from Ironhide's careful but firm grip. It was like being stuck in some sort of benevolent vise, and it was maddening as all get out.

"Let me go!" Sophie shrieked again.

"Sophie!" Ironhide barked, a mixture of his patience wearing thin and him trying to keep Sophie from injuring herself in her tantrum making his voice rougher than he had intended.

It worked, however, and Sophie looked up at Ironhide tearfully. She said nothing, but at this point, she didn't have to. Ironhide simply sighed heavily and shook his head slightly. As she finally began to relax, Sophie watched as Mikaela desperately pleaded with Sam, begging him to wake up.

"Sam! Listen to me," Mikaela cried, "I love you! Please wake up! Sam! Please! Please come back to me! Sam!"

()

The light was blinding, and Sam had to lift a hand to try and block out some of the piercingly white light.

"Where am I?" he asked, his voice echoing faintly. "Am I dead?"

It was then that he saw them. The Primes.

Towering, impressive behemoths of Transformers, stood in front of him, blocking out some of the blinding light. Their features were far more alien than that of the Autobots, or even that of the Decepticons, but Sam felt no fear, not even the initial shock that he had when he had first encountered Bumblebee.

Instead it was an overwhelming sense of calm and awe. Very similar to when Sam had first met Optimus Prime.

"We have been watching you a long, long time," one of the Primes said, their voice reverberating throughout the air. "You have fought for Optimus, our last descendant, with courage and with sacrifice, the virtues of a leader. A leader worthy of our secret."

A low, almost melodic hum wafted through the air before dissipating.

"The Matrix of Leadership is not found, it is earned." On cue, the Matrix of Leadership, whole once again, smoky tendrils of energy curling around it, materialized in front of Sam. He cautiously reached out and grasped it, a soft shock of power racing through his arm as he did so. "Return now to Optimus. Merge the Matrix with his spark. It is, and always has been, your destiny."

The white light suddenly grew in intensity and a high-pitched whine began to overtake all the other noises around Sam. Another, stronger jolt of power suddenly arced through him, but this time it was through his entire body.

Sam's eyes snapped open and he was immediately greeted by a hot blast of desert air and the sound of Mikaela's relieved cry of joy. Realizing that there was something heavy and cool in his right hand, Sam quickly sat up, looking at the Matrix for a few breathless moments. He looked at Mikaela, using his free hand to quickly but gently wipe away the tears that had streaked down Mikaela's face.

"I love you," he whispered hoarsely to her. "I love you."

Then, the Primes' instructions still echoing in his mind, Sam staggered to his feet quickly. He could hear both Mikaela and Sophie yelling at him, but at that moment, he knew what he had to do.

Clambering onto Optimus Prime, Sam lifted the Matrix of Leadership up over his head and, in one swift arc, brought it down into the gaping injury that the Decepticon leader had inflicted. The Matrix pierced down into the still faintly humming spark casing of Optimus Prime, and loud, crackling arcs of energy shot forward, causing Sam to quickly scramble back.

As his life support systems began to fire back to life, Optimus's optics flickered on and he coughed roughly, slowly becoming aware of his surroundings and the fact that he was now, indeed, back online and slowly coming back to working order. His optics quickly scanned the area, realizing that it was not the N.E.S.T. base, and then his gaze fell on Sam, who was looking at him with a mix of hope and concern.

"Boy, you returned for me," Optimus said softly.

From behind Sam, Sophie's whooping cheer could faintly be heard.


	24. Chapter 24

()

"Die like your brothers!" the Fallen snarled, bringing his spear down in an arc aimed at Optimus's head.

Reacting quickly, Optimus deflected the spear to the side with his sword, and though the spear cut across his right shoulder, he ignored the injury for now. Glaring at the Fallen, his blue optics flaring with anger and a power surge, Optimus grabbed the Fallen by the throat and hurled him through the last few remnants of the destroyed buildings.

"They were your brothers, too!" Optimus argued back, sounding both disgusted and infuriated.

"They were weak!" the Fallen hissed. "Weak-minded and weak-willed! They were willing to let our entire race die out to spare some tiny, poorly evolved bipeds! And you are no different!"

As if to emphasize each insult, the Fallen accompanied his furious retort with vicious swipes with his spear. Two of them raked across Optimus's chest, threatening to undo most of the repairs that the Matrix and Jetfire's sacrifice had done, and a third dug deeper into the gash on his shoulder.

Staggering back, Optimus managed to deflect the last two spear swipes, and he then charged the Fallen, knocking him off balance and across jagged pieces of rubble. Struggling back to his feet, the Fallen had to temporarily use his spear as a crutch to keep his balance. Optimus watched him for a few moments, almost pityingly.

"How could you ignore everything that your brothers taught you?" he asked in disbelief.

"Easily," the Fallen hissed, once again standing tall. "They were willing to sacrifice themselves for foolish ideals and some pathetic belief in morality. I, fortunately, was freed from such degrading illusions, and realized that there is rarely any need to sacrifice oneself for power, even power as great as the Matrix or the power to revitalize Cybertron."

"That power would destroy an entire planet of creatures and civilizations!"

"Well, I never said that such power came without a cost," the Fallen said in a matter-of-factly tone. The demonic, smug grin on his features, however, hinted at some sort of perverse pleasure out of the idea of snuffing out an entire planet of life.

"You chose the wrong planet."

With that, Optimus charged the Fallen once again, and this time, he managed to crush part of the Fallen's chest armor in the impact. Hissing something in a language that not even Optimus recognized, the Fallen swung his spear around, threatening to impale Optimus through the chest. Snagging the spear deftly, Optimus wrenched it free from the Fallen's grasp, then kicked the Fallen away, a trail of dark, reddish orange mech fluid leaking from the Fallen's now bent and mangled chest.

The Fallen started to try to get away, a sense of panic seeming to work its way onto his feature as he began to realize that his warning of being defeated by a Prime was coming true. Optimus, however, grabbed the Fallen and threw him against two pillars of the rubble, and then drove the spear down, tearing through the Fallen's face armor and the softer, ever smoldering circuitry underneath it. Using the spear, Optimus ripped the Fallen's facial armor off, sparks and mech fluid cascading from the numerous injuries.

"Give me your face," Optimus growled grimly.

Words failed the Fallen, and a strangled, metallic scream came in their place. His life support systems were rapidly failing, and even the seemingly eternal fires that had pulsed through his circuitry were started to be extinguished.

"I rise," Optimus continued, stabbing his hand through the Fallen and grasping the white hot spark that had powered the Fallen for so many centuries. Optics narrowed in conviction, Optimus crushed the spark in his hand, a well of energy, mech fluid, and something far more insidious, that not even Optimus could quite understand, rushed out before fading just as quickly. "You fall."

The Fallen's now lifeless body collapsed slowly, falling to Optimus's feet. His internal systems whirring and working in overdrive, Optimus looked up to the injured Megatron.

"No...no," Megatron muttered in horrified disbelief.

"Not to call you a coward, Master," Starscream said quickly, casting wary glances between both Optimus and Megatron. "But sometimes cowards do survive."

Glaring weakly at Optimus, Megatron took a few steps back.

"This isn't over, Prime," he promised. With that, he transformed into his jet mode and shot off into the sky.

Looking down at the Fallen's corpse, Optimus frowned, feeling a sense of somber victory. It had been necessary to kill the Fallen in order to save Earth, but it had also brought an end to an incredibly powerful, and, at one time, even a just being. Turning to look over at the humans, who were assisting the injured and scrambling to find others that were missing, Optimus cast one last look at the Fallen's body. It was then he saw the small flicker of what looked like a thread of dark gold energy coil around the casing that had once housed the Fallen's spark before hissing away into nonexistence.

()

The carrier cruised through the waters slowly but at a steady pace, the waters fortunately calm and cooperative.

Sam stared out across the expanse of the ocean, the cold ocean air running across his face. He glanced over his shoulder as Optimus walked over to where he was, smiling.

"Pretty good view, isn't it?" Sam asked, looking at the seemingly endless ocean.

"It is," Optimus agreed, nodding. "Thank you for saving my life, Sam."

"Thank you for believing in me," Sam replied.

"Still believe that you would not make a good ambassador?" Optimus chuckled.

Sam just laughed and shook his head.

"Maybe, maybe not, but I'll have to see if my college will accept it as extra credit or maybe even an internship."

Across the carrier, Ironhide was slowly walking back and forth, watching the ocean waves as they hit the carrier and were just as easily deflected back. There were currently no fighter jets on the deck of the carrier, though Ironhide doubted they would be needed if something was foolish enough to attack a carrier with three Autobots on it. Bumblebee was below deck, and there was another carrier transporting Ratchet, Sideswipe, and Jolt, while another carrier had the ever so distinct honor of having to transport Mudflap, Skids, and the remnants of both Jetfire and the Fallen.

"Hey, Hide."

Hearing Sophie's voice, Ironhide turned and looked down at the blonde-haired human. She had a large piece of folded paper tucked underneath her right arm, and looked a little nervous. It wasn't an expression that Ironhide was used to her having.

"What is it?"

"This took me five different tries and fourteen Sharpies to make, but I think it gets the point across," Sophie said, holding up the large piece of paper. "Be careful when opening it. I don't know if you Transformers guys can get high or not, but the smell of Sharpie is still pretty strong. I'm still seeing things..."

Tilting his head to one side, mildly curious, Ironhide took the paper, careful not to tear it. Unfolding it, Ironhide couldn't help but chuckle slightly. It was, in effect, a very, very large 'thank you' card that Sophie had made, thanking Ironhide for saving her life and being an impromptu transport...and she had even spelled his name correctly.

"You're welcome," Ironhide replied, grinning. "I'm impressed, you managed to get my name right."

"Well, like I said, it did take five tries," Sophie reminded, shrugging. She looked over Ironhide quickly, suddenly darting behind him and looking over him again before darting back to in front of him. Ironhide watched her carefully. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but he didn't want to inadvertently step on her.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked.

"Just making sure that Ratchet patched you up, okay. You know, in most movies, when the vehicle catches on fire, there's usually a horrible and really big explosion and there's this epic music that goes along with it."

"And in how many of these movies did the vehicle hail from another planet and was capable of transforming into an Autobot?"

"Well, fine, if you're going to get into all those specifics on me," Sophie said, rolling her eyes. "Then none."

"That's what I thought," Ironhide answered. He looked over at one of the carriers. He could see Sideswipe zipping back and forth on the deck of the carrier with some of the humans. They seemed to be chasing something, but Ironhide wasn't quite sure what. Narrowing his optics, Ironhide tried to discern what the younger Autobot was doing. "What in the name of Primus is he doing now?"

"What?" Sophie asked, looking over at the other carrier. A communications housing and a few crates obstructed her few, though, and she hopped up and down, trying to see. "I can't see!"

Sighing, Ironhide carefully scooped Sophie up and set her on his shoulder. By this point the motion almost seemed automatic...and Ironhide wasn't quite sure how he felt about that. While he had been tolerant of the humans well enough, and had come to befriend and even respect a few, Sophie was an outlier. She was loud, brash, and obnoxious, with absolutely no military training or background, and a particularly annoying shriek. And even so, Ironhide found an odd, somewhat comforting and almost familiar sense of camaraderie in her. Even if her most lethal weapon was a thrown rock.

"It's Sideswipe," Ironhide pointed out.

"Oh! He's playing football," Sophie explained. "Looks like he's winning, too."

"Is that what those other humans are doing?"

"Yeah. I feel bad for the guy that has to play defense _against_ Sideswipe, though," Sophie laughed.

"He knows better than to harm a human," Ironhide said flatly.

"It's a _joke_, Hide," Sophie replied, rolling her eyes. "Sheesh, you have no sense of humor, do you?"

"I do...occasionally."

"What? Once every half a century?"

"You do know I could very easily throw you off this carrier, right?" Ironhide asked, his expression deadpan.

"Please tell me that's your once in half a century joke," Sophie squeaked, paling.

Ironhide laughed and nodded his head, tilting his gaze a little so that Sophie could see him laughing.

"Hey!" Sophie cried, grinning in relief. "That's not very nice! You're not supposed to scare me like that!"

"As you said, it was my once in half a century joke," Ironhide retorted. "I think I'm allowed to make it count."

"Fine," Sophie pouted, sitting down on Ironhide's shoulder and crossing her arms.

Ironhide just chuckled and looked over to where Sideswipe appeared to have done something cheer worthy. He had to give the Autobot credit, he certainly knew how to show off.

"Hey...Hide?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something that's, I guess...kind of personal?"

Grunting slightly, Ironhide shrugged carefully. He was terrible at this kind of talk, and not overly fond of it, either. Even so, after a few moments of thought, Ironhide nodded slowly.

"When Sideswipe said that you would know about the Decepticons...destroying stuff-" Ironhide inwardly tensed, setting his jaw. He should have seen this coming. "-what did he mean?"

Ironhide was quiet, turning to look at the ocean, his optics glancing over the white-crested waters. A soft, timid touch from Sophie's hand on the side of his face snapped him out of his thoughts, and Ironhide cleared his throat roughly. Sophie quickly withdrew her hand, wincing slightly, as though she realized she had hit a rather sore subject, but Ironhide just shook his head slowly.

Bumblebee had mentioned Ironhide's time serving Megatron rather nonchalantly, and she hadn't expected the weapon's specialist to react the way he did. Sophie's curiosity was going to get the better of her yet.

"At one time, I was captain of Megatron's Cybertronian Defense Forces," Ironhide said slowly. "I followed Megatron's orders for quite some time. Most of them were in the defense of Cybertron and its people. Some...were not."

"What made you change?"

"Megatron's orders became increasingly more focused on violence and destruction, rather than upholding the law or even setting a logical plan of attack. I found that my ways of thinking and doing things were more and more out of place in Megatron's new Decepticon army."

"So...you became an Autobot?"

"More or less," Ironhide replied, nodding slightly. "While my argument for joining the Autobots may not have been the most eloquent, it got the point across. And Optimus agreed. Hence, I became an Autobot."

"What did you tell them when you wanted to join?" Sophie asked, grinning faintly.

"That my kind were bred for war, and theirs, simply, were not," Ironhide answered, chuckling.

"Yep, sounds about right for you."

"That's mostly it," Ironhide sighed. It seemed almost an eternity since he had joined the Autobot cause, and for a few brief moments, he felt displaced by the memories. "I haven't exactly always seen optic-to-optic with Optimus, but, for the most part, we've managed to get past our differences. And I will admit that Optimus's orders are far more sensible than Megatron's were."

"I'd hope so," Sophie replied, grinning and chewing at her bottom lip ring slowly. "Well, fair's only fair...did you want to ask me anything?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You can ask me anything," Sophie repeated, standing up and holding out her arms. "I asked you a personal question, so I figure it's only fair that I let you ask me something personal."

Taken aback, Ironhide fell quiet once more. He was surprised to find that he actually did have more than a few questions he wanted to ask Sophie. It was out of character for him, true, but the idea was nowhere near as unnerving as he thought. Pondering the offer for a few minutes, Ironhide glanced over slightly. Sophie, who had sat back down, was watching him intently. She seemed almost eager at the idea of answering his question.

"Very well," Ironhide said finally. "Those...scars on the insides of your elbows. They seem rather systematic. What caused them?"

Sophie's face flushed a light pink, and she ducked her head, clearing her throat. She rubbed the back of her neck nervously before looking back up. She was forcing a weak grin. Ironhide had obviously found a subject that made her almost as uncomfortable as he was with answering questions about his past.

"They're, uh, they're track marks...from...using heroin," Sophie answered slowly.

"Heroin?"

"A drug. Really...potent one, too."

"So I see," Ironhide muttered, doing a quick scan of the data files that were of public access on the human's Internet. The more he found out about the drug, the more he felt the mech fluid in his systems start to go cold at the idea of a human as fragile as Sophie succumbing to it. "Why would you do such a thing to yourself?"

"It was an escape, at first, anyways," Sophie laughed bitterly. "After that, it was an addiction. I couldn't help it. Or rather, I didn't _want_ to help it. I was okay just...destroying myself."

"Why would you want to destroy yourself?" Ironhide found himself far more concerned with the answer than he would have initially surmised.

"I was...miserable," Sophie said finally, sighing. "The only thing I was good at was school, and that was just because I could escape into a mix of books and drugs. I didn't have a lot of friends, and the ones that I did have were worse off than me, so I wound up being alone a lot. My brothers were always good at something, whether it was basketball, or mechanics, or the military, and I was always just this little...loser. So I figured I'd be the best loser I could be."

The reasoning seemed a bit skewed to Ironhide, but he didn't question it, for now.

"And your parents said nothing to this?"

"I hid it from my family for about seven months. But when my foster parents found out, they freaked," Sophie continued. "Got to give them credit, they figured out what I was doing before I actually hauled off and did something stupid, like kill my fool self. Got me in one vicious but effective rehab program. And I've been clean since."

"Good for them," Ironhide said with a nod.

"So...do you think I'm a freak?" Sophie asked cautiously.

"Hardly," Ironhide chuckled. "While you have some decision making skills that could use some work, you're far from being a freak by any definition of the word."

"Thanks, Hide..."

"Don't mention it."

After a few moments of silence that were only interrupted by the sound of the ocean or the cheers from the other carrier, Sophie climbed up and grasped part of Ironhide's cranial armor before leaning forward and quickly waving her hand in front of Ironhide's right optic.

"So can you still see out of this peeper or not?"

"Yes, I can," Ironhide snorted. "And that, may I add, is very disorienting. Would you kindly desist?"

"Sorry," Sophie said quickly, promptly sitting back down on Ironhide's shoulder and falling silent.

"Are all humans as inquisitive as you are?"

"Nope, just a few." Sophie grinned and leaned her head lightly against Ironhide's. "And you're currently stuck with one of them."

"What in the name of Primus did I do to deserve such a thing?" Ironhide asked, grinning.


	25. Chapter 25

Back at the base, it seemed almost eerie as to how normal everything seemed. It was a stark contrast to the deafening gunfire and staggering heat. And while it was more than a welcome change, it still sent chills down Sophie's spine.

Walking around the base slowly, Sophie looked up at the ceiling, almost half expecting to see the blinding sun hit her eyes. But there was nothing of the sort. Instead, the dark, metallic grey of the hangar stared back down at her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Ironhide talking with Ratchet as the medic worked on repairing a device of some sort. Sophie had no idea what it was, and could only guess that it was used for repairs in the middle of combat.

As the soldiers bustled around, Sophie began to feel more and more out of place, and she walked over to Ironhide.

"Hey, old man," Sophie called out. "Hide!"

Ironhide looked up and nodded. He started to respond, but stopped when Sophie was roughly hit by one of the soldiers. She staggered and though the soldier apologized, he quickly went on his way, grumbling something about civilians always being in the way. Sophie frowned at him, but knew better than to say anything.

Sighing, Sophie darted forward, barely avoiding being hit by yet another soldier. To his credit, Ironhide took a step forward, giving Sophie a little bit of a safe space as she walked up to him.

"You all right?" he asked gruffly.

"Yeah. Guy just plowed into me, though," Sophie replied, wincing and shrugging her right shoulder.

"Hrmph. You both should watch where you're going."

"Yeah, yeah," Sophie grumbled, crossing her arms.

"Now, Ironhide," Ratchet chided. "Not everybody's a soldier, you know."

Ironhide looked over at Ratchet, who was smirking faintly, and then down at Sophie. Sophie appeared to be sulking, though she was clutching at her right arm. Sighing slightly, Ironhide deftly reached down and picked Sophie up. To her credit, Sophie only made a quiet squeak of surprise before quickly holding onto Ironhide's hand as he set her down on his shoulder.

Ratchet watched the two with muted surprise, then looked at Ironhide once Sophie had safely climbed onto Ironhide's shoulder and was sitting with her back leaned against his shoulder armor. Ironhide caught the medic's gaze and narrowed his optics slightly.

"What?"

"Nothing," Ratchet replied quickly, going back to working on the device. "Surprised at you. That's all."

"Why?" Sophie asked.

"Don't listen to him," Ironhide muttered, shaking his head. "He-"

"You're the last human I would have expected Ironhide to let climb on his shoulder," Ratchet replied with a grin.

"He sorta' picked me up, you know," Sophie said.

"I do," Ratchet answered. "Just surprising, is all."

"What? Do I have human cooties or something?" Sophie asked. She then grinned at Ironhide mischievously. "Are you afraid of human cooties, 'Hide?"

"Cooties?" Ironhide repeated. "What the slag are those?"

Sophie laughed and lightly patted Ironhide's shoulder.

"Nothing, 'Hide. Don't worry about it. Unless you're in grade school, I think you're okay."

Ironhide grunted in response, but said nothing else. Ratchet just chuckled, and set the device aside, obviously done with the repairs. He leaned against the work table and looked at Sophie, and then Ironhide, who was watching the soldiers unload a large pallet of supplies.

"Hey, 'Hide?" Sophie asked.

"Yes?"

"What's going to happen now?"

"What do you mean?"  
>"Well, Big Boss went all 'kali ma' on that Fallen guy, so Megatron's leaderless, yeah?"<p>

Ironhide and Ratchet exchanged glances quickly, and then Ironhide shook his head.

"Unfortunately, that's not quite the case. Megatron _is_ a leader," Ironhide answered. "He simply does not have the Fallen to give him orders. Megatron will be back, there is no doubting that."

"...then what happens?" Sophie asked quietly. "He messed up Big Boss pretty bad."

"His name is Optimus Prime," Ironhide corrected tersely. "And Megatron simply had a stroke of dumb luck."

"Sorry," Sophie responded. "Optimus Prime. I'm just scared I'll start messing up his name, too."

"So far it seems as though I'm the only one you do that to," Ironhide answered, shrugging.

"Whoa! Watch the shrugging there, old man!" Sophie cried, staggering.

"Sorry."

"It's a long ways down, you know," Sophie muttered.

"You want down?"

"...no."

Ironhide tilted his gaze slightly, but Sophie was quiet and still. She sat back down and looked over at Ironhide and smiled weakly.

"All set?" Ironhide asked.

"Yeppers. Forward, noble steed!" Sophie cried.

"Don't push your luck," Ironhide warned, chuckling.

() 

About a week later, Ironhide was driving down the streets, maintaining a normal speed and appearing as inconspicuous as possible. Sophie was at the driver's seat, but her hands were lightly resting on the steering wheel and she was obviously sulking.

"It's not fair that you just have to up and leave," Sophie grumbled for the fourth time during the trip.

Ironhide's audible sigh was heard over the radio and his engine revved in annoyance.

"It is necessary for the safety of your planet...for the fourth time," Ironhide replied.

"Why can't you just take vacations or whatever? I mean, you guys have earned a vacation, right?"

"Would you prefer us be on vacation when the Decepticons attack again?"

"No," Sophie pouted, crossing her arms.

"Hands on the wheel," Ironhide ordered quickly.

"My bad," Sophie replied, promptly grabbing the steering wheel tightly. "Maybe we'd get pulled over by that diabolical cop car. You think?"

"Why in the name of Primus would you want cross paths with Barricade?" Ironhide asked in disbelief.

"Because then he wouldn't care whether or not my hands are on the steering wheel. ...which is...a part of you...which makes this really creepy...and sort of gives me the heebie jeebies."

"Do all humans come up with phrases as dramatic as yours to explain rather mundane feelings or situations?"

"_This_ is mundane?" Sophie cried, throwing up one hand, keeping her other hand still tightly gripping the steering wheel. "I am sitting inside a transforming alien robot discussing how the end of the world was barely avoided! Less than a month ago I was some annoying college student whose biggest concern was figuring out where I could get the next shot of booze and how rough the next quiz was going to be! _This is anything but mundane!_"

"All right, all right. Calm your internal circuits...er...emotions," Ironhide responded. He could tell that Sophie's vitals were already starting to spike, and personally Ironhide didn't know how she had avoided having a heart attack, even at her young age.

"I don't...have...circuits, 'Hide," Sophie muttered, setting her head against the steering wheel.

"I know. My apologies," Ironhide answered tersely. He was starting to regret having agreed to drive Sophie back to her dormitory.

"Hey!" Sophie asked, suddenly sitting up straight. "Hey! 'Hide, 'Hide, 'Hide, 'Hide."

"What?" Ironhide snapped.

"Coffee!" Sophie said, pointing at a nearby Starbucks.

"You have got to be kidding me," Ironhide muttered.

"I'm not kidding you," Sophie replied, almost bouncing up and down in the driver's seat.

"We will stop if you will kindly stop _bouncing up and down_," Ironhide advised.

Sophie immediately fell still and stared ahead, though she was still bouncing her left leg and her fingers tapped the steering wheel quickly.

"Are you certain that coffee is necessary?" Ironhide inquired. "You seem hyperactive enough as it is."

"It's the flavor," Sophie replied, leaning forward slightly. "Haven't you ever had good coffee, 'Hide?"

"No."

"Why not? It'd probably be-oh yeah. My bad," Sophie answered, grinning meekly at the dashboard. "What would happen if you did try to do something like drink coffee?"

"I'm not sure," Ironhide replied, thinking about the idea for a few moments. "I can only assume it would not be a good outcome, however."

"Good point. Guess it'd be sort of the equivalent of pouring coffee in your car, huh?"

"Close enough," Ironhide affirmed, carefully pulling in the parking lot of the coffee shop. "Here. Go get whatever caffeine-infused drink it is that you're after and return promptly."

"Yes, sir!" Sophie said smartly, saluting. She then scrambled out of the driver's seat and darted into the coffee shop.

Sitting in the parking lot, Ironhide could watch Sophie and keep an optic on her. Ironhide was fairly certain that the Decepticons were still reeling from their defeat in Egypt, but he didn't want to take any chances. Whether Sophie was willing to acknowledge it or not, she was now one of the most hated humans as far as the Decepticons were concerned. Optimus had been adamant about Lennox and N.E.S.T. keeping a close watch on the civilian humans that had been involved in the incident. Only Simmons had seemed to understand how dire the situation was...

Sophie came borderline prancing out of the coffee shop, seeming quite pleased with her acquisition of what Ironhide could only assume was the largest cup of coffee that she could get. She climbed back into the driver's seat and set the cup of coffee down in the cup holder. Sophie also had a piece of paper tightly gripped in her hand that she kept glancing at nervously.

"Were you able to get what you wanted?" Ironhide asked slowly.

"Yeah," Sophie replied, nodding quickly. "Um...'Hide?"

"Yes?"

"Is it against the rules to keep in contact with a human?"

"I beg your pardon?" Ironhide sounded confused by the question as he pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic.

"Would you get in trouble with Big Boss if you kept in contact with me?"

"Kept in contact with you?"

"Yeah, you know, via email," Sophie explained. "I mean...if that's okay with you..."

Ironhide was quiet for a few minutes as he mulled over Sophie's proposition. True, he had learned to tolerate some of Sophie's obnoxious behavior, and she wasn't as irritating as she had initially been, but what sort of risks would having a communication link with Sophie pose?

"You know that that would be a potential risk to your safety, correct?"

"...yeah."

"And you acknowledge and accept that risk?" Ironhide asked incredulously.

"...well, yeah. I mean, it'd be kind of cool to keep in touch with you, if you can. But like I said, I don't want to get you in trouble with Big Boss, yeah?"

"The only issue that I can see Optimus having with the ordeal would be if it placed you at risk."

"Do I need to sign a waiver or something?"

"No, I don't believe that would be necessary. Am I to assume that you have already chosen an email address?"

"Yeah," Sophie replied with a grin. She held up the napkin to the dashboard. "Can you actually see this stuff, 'Hide? Or am I just making a total numbnut of myself by holding up stuff to your dashboard?"

"I can see it..," Ironhide replied slowly, scanning the scribbled email address on the napkin. "...that's not my name."

"Your name was taken!" Sophie cried, looking at the napkin quickly. "I had to go through about fourteen different variations. You're lucky that Gmail allows for dashes and periods. Otherwise I would have had to pick out something really outlandish."

His engine revved again in annoyance, but Ironhide said nothing. As far as he was concerned, adding more than one number to his name was 'outlandish' enough. But he would have to trust Sophie's word on this one...

"Very well," Ironhide muttered.

"Woohoo!" Sophie whooped, throwing her hands into the air.

"Steering. Wheel."

"Sorry," Sophie quickly replied, grasping the steering wheel lightly. She looked at the napkin that had since flown over to the passenger's seat. "...um, where do you want me to leave the napkin?"

"I would suggest destroying it," Ironhide answered. "I've already stored the email address in a memory bank, and I would not want anybody else getting that address."

"Want me to burn it?" Sophie asked.

"If that's what it takes."

"Okay." Sophie reached over and grabbed the napkin and crumpled it up before looking at Ironhide's dashboard dubiously. "You seriously already memorized the email address?"

"As much as it pains me to say this, yes, I did."

"Damn, wish I could memorize stuff that fast. I want memory banks."

"You being human is more than enough," Ironhide answered, inwardly shuddering at the idea of Sophie being Autobot...or worse, Decepticon.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Sophie asked.

"Nothing. We've arrived."

"Oh yeah...we did, huh?"

The somberness in Sophie's tone made Ironhide pause, and he sighed slightly. He had anticipated Sophie being solemn about being taken back to her dormitory, but he had no idea on what to do. After a few minutes of silent, Sophie reached over to grab her coffee cup, but Ironhide's voice stopped her.

"One moment," Ironhide ordered. "Move to the passenger's seat."

"Umm, okay," Sophie answered, obviously confused. She obliged, though, and crawled over to the passenger seat as carefully as she could.

"Give me a few minutes," Ironhide said, running through various image searches as quickly but efficiently as possible. "And whatever you do, please do not scream."

Sophie paused and stared at Ironhide's dashboard with wide eyes, but said nothing and took a long drink of her coffee, wincing slightly as the heat burned her tongue.

Finally, Ironhide initiated a program that he had never anticipated needing to use, but was now grateful he had let Ratchet talk him into downloading the program.

The air in the driver's seat flickered and shuddered and a static sound filled the air. Sophie narrowed her eyes and scooted back slightly in the passenger seat.

"...um...'Hide?"

A holographic projection suddenly snapped into existence with a loud popping noise, and Sophie had to clap a hand over her mouth to muffle her shriek of surprise.

Now sitting in the driver's seat was what looked like a tall, middle-aged man with messily combed back coal black hair that was starting to grey and on the sides it had started to blanch white. He had a strong jawline and a five o' clock shadow. A long, ragged scar ran down his right eye, while a small, pale scar was right above the left eye, both of which were a bright, sky blue. His skin had once been a pale color, but was now tanned, making the scars on his arms show up even more prominently.

He was clad in a black T-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans that were torn at the knees. Sophie couldn't see what shoes he was wearing, but she was far too alarmed to lean forward and try to see.

The man snorted slightly and then turned to look at Sophie. He raised an eyebrow and shrugged slightly.

"Thoughts?"

Hearing Ironhide's voice come from the man made Sophie jump, and she barely avoided dropping her cup of coffee. After a few moments, Sophie swallowed hard and edged forward slowly.

"...Iron...Ironhide?"

"Yes."

"It's you?"

"Yes."

"Wait...are you...in there?" Sophie pointed at the dashboard quickly, and then pointed back to the holographic projection. "And in there?"

"Yes."

"...do you say anything other than 'yes'?"

"Yes."

Sophie stared at Ironhide in exasperation, then lifted up a hand slowly.

"Um...can I, uh...touch you?"

Ironhide blinked and cleared his throat quietly, then nodded slowly. Taking in a slow, shaking breath, Sophie reached forward and lightly touched Ironhide's arm. A soft pulse of energy rippled through her fingers, sort of like the gentlest static electricity shock she'd had, but the holographic image was solid. Sucking in her breath quickly, Sophie looked up at Ironhide in disbelief.

"You're...you're real!"

Blinking, Ironhide tilted his head to one side.

"Real?"

"Erm, I can touch you! ...no, that still sounds wrong. I mean, I can...well...my fingers don't go through you."

"Yes. This projection is the result of a program that Ratchet thought would be beneficial for us to have should we ever need to interact with humans that were not ready to deal with our...Cybertronian appearance."

"Have you ever used this program before?" Sophie asked, tugging on Ironhide's shirt lightly.

Carefully grasping Sophie's hand and moving it away from his shirt sleeve, Ironhide shook his head.

"Haven't had a need for it," he answered.

"This shit feels real," Sophie murmured in disbelief, staring at Ironhide's hand. "Like, you're real."

"I am."

Sophie stared at Ironhide for a few minutes, then cautiously poked his hair. Ironhide moved his head back slightly, frowning.

"Sorry," Sophie squeaked, quickly withdrawing her hand.

"You humans place a lot of emphasis on the sense of touch, don't you?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, it kind of makes things more real for us. It's one thing to see rain falling from the sky, but it's a totally new sensation to feel it hitting your skin," Sophie explained, never taking her eyes off Ironhide.

"Hrm...I think I understand." Ironhide sighed and sat back in the driver's seat and closed his eyes. "Very well. If you must."

"Well I don't want to offend you, 'Hide," Sophie replied. She paused and looked away for a few seconds. "This whole human thing really bothers you, huh?"

"...no," Ironhide sighed. "I'm just not good at it. Bumblebee is far better at interacting with your kind."

"You do pretty well, you know. Maybe not the best, but you're certainly not the worst. You didn't try to turn me into roadkill like the freaking Silver Surfer did."

Ironhide chuckled at the mention of Sideswipe. Upon seeing a humanized version of Ironhide smile, Sophie grinned and sat as close as she could without invading his personal space. ...although considering she was technically already sitting inside him, Sophie could only guess what personal space meant at this point.

"Sideswipe is arrogant and cocky, but he's a good Autobot soldier," Ironhide replied. He opened his eyes and looked over at Sophie. "You've calmed down."

"I have?" Sophie blinked, then nodded slightly. "I guess so, huh? Well...helps to see something familiar. Not saying there's anything wrong with your Cyber-Cybertr-goddammit help me out here, 'Hide."

"Cybertronian."

"Thank you. Yeah, not that there's anything wrong with your Cybertronian form. I just don't feel like a hamster that got loose in a high school classroom."

"Speaking of school, you should probably get back to your dormitory," Ironhide reminded.

"Yeah, I should..."

"Come on," Ironhide coaxed. "Let's go. And don't forget your bag."

"Got it."

Snagging her bag and coffee cup, Sophie climbed out of the passenger seat. She seemed a bit surprised when Ironhide stepped out of the driver's seat.

"You're not going to...pop out of existence, are you?" she asked.

"It requires a great deal of distance, interference, or both to do that," Ironhide assured.

Glancing down quickly, Sophie grinned when she saw that Ironhide was wearing a pair of dark leather cowboy boots. Looking back up at him, she could see the same, stern expression that the Cybertronian version of Ironhide always wore.

"You should get a cowboy hat to go with those boots, you know."

"I should?"

"Yeah. You know, complete the look there, partner."

Ironhide pondered the thought for a few minutes, then walked over and reached into the driver's side. He produced a cream-colored cowboy hat and slid it deftly on, then looked at Sophie.

"Perfect," Sophie affirmed with a grin.

"Lead the way," Ironhide said with a nod.

As they walked towards her dorm room, Sophie couldn't help but notice that Ironhide's steps actually made noise. That program he referred to had to be one advanced piece of programming...

Ironhide looked around the hallway, studying the architecture. The carvings were intricate and detailed, and even though he didn't necessarily understand human art, it didn't mean he couldn't appreciate the fact that it appeared as though a lot of effort and work had been put in.

"Here we are," Sophie announced quietly. She turned and looked up at Ironhide, and Ironhide was surprised to see her eyes were shimmering faintly with the threat of tears. "...um...just in case, you know, I don't get to see you again...I wanted to say, that for, you know, saving my life...multiple times, and for putting up with me being a total fail whale with your name, and for saving my life...again. And...and for this...amazing holographic wonder thingee."

As Ironhide watched Sophie stumble over the words, he seemed a bit perplexed, but nodded slowly. He hadn't ever anticipated _any_ human being this attached...

"You're welcome," he said quietly. He wasn't quite sure what else to say.

"...uhm...this is going to sound really weird, and you're welcome to say 'no' if you don't want to, because I know you've got this tough warrior ego to protect, but...could I give you a hug?" The last words of the request were barely audible, but Ironhide heard them.

He tensed slightly. It had been awkward enough having Sophie poke at him like he was some sort of alien creature. ...of course, the fact of the matter was that he _was_ an alien creature to Sophie. Looking down at the human, Ironhide studied her face for a few minutes. She was trying to appear nonchalant, but there was no denying the hopeful look in her expression. Relenting, Ironhide nodded slowly.

Sophie grinned widely and hugged Ironhide tightly. Ironhide made a slight grunt of surprise, then carefully returned the gesture. He wasn't sure how much residual feedback that Sophie was getting, but if she felt any discomfort, she didn't show it. Lightly setting a hand on the back of Sophie's head, Ironhide glanced around. For now, there were only three other humans in the hallway, and they were too wrapped up in their own conversations to notice them.

Finally, Sophie let her arms fall to her sides and she stepped back. It was then that Ironhide noticed the stray tear that had managed to slip down Sophie's face.

"Are you injured?" he asked quietly.

"Huh?" Sophie queried, sniffling.

"You appear to be crying."

"Oh, no, I'm not hurt. I don't cry, anyways. Probably just allergies."

Ironhide raised an eyebrow in disbelief, but said nothing. He reached forward and used his thumb to wipe the tear away. The feedback was profound, but not necessarily uncomfortable. It was an incredibly odd sensation that Ironhide wasn't exactly able to describe.

"Okay, I'm gonna' let you go before my allergies get worse," Sophie said with a weak smile. "Be careful, okay, Ironhide?"

"You as well. Keep an eye out for Decepticons. Should you see any...well, let me know."

"I will. ...thank you, Ironhide."

"You're welcome, Sophie," Ironhide replied with a nod.

With that, he turned and began walking back down the hallway. He heard the door to Sophie's dorm room open and then shut. Ironhide could only hope that she never had to call on his help with Decepticons...or worse.


	26. Chapter 26

()

"Sam! Samuel!"

Wincing at hearing his full first name, Sam turned to see his mother waving excitedly at him, with his father giving Mrs. Witwicky a rather exasperated look. Turning to Leo, Sam smiled and shook Leo's hand firmly.

"Take care, man," he said. "Look me up if you're ever in the need to have your life threatened by aliens again."

"Yeah, bro, I'll make sure to do that," Leo replied, laughing and nodding his head. "You take care, too. Go marry that hot chick you got."

Sam just laughed, shaking his head. In truth, Mikaela had now become a bit of a sore subject. It seemed like they'd been fighting more and more, and she hadn't even shown up for his college graduation. She'd said it was to help her dad out, but Sam had a sinking suspicion that it was more about their latest argument.

Walking over to his parents, Sam had to take a short step back as his mother gleefully shoved a camera in front of his face.

"What do you think? Is this picture best for the 'thank you' cards? Or this one?" she asked, cycling through two photos so quickly that Sam couldn't really tell the difference.

"Mom, mom," Sam interjected. "I can't even see the pictures."

"Oh fine, here," his mother said with a smile, handing the camera over to Sam.

As he looked over the photos, Sam glanced up at his parents.

"Did you remember to take a couple of Sophie?" he asked.

"Yeah, your mother got enough to fill a National Geographic special," Ron commented. "Don't see why we had to take photos of a kid that wasn't ours, though."

"Oh, stop it," Judy reprimanded, lightly patting Ron's shoulder.

"Sophie's foster parents couldn't make it. Said they had some big business meeting that they couldn't miss or something like that."

"Doesn't she have something like four brothers?" Ron asked, not sounding convinced.

"Three, dad, three. One's one of the meanest criminal defense lawyers this side of the Earth and was caught up in cases, another is a cross-country truck driver who is still on the road, and the last one is deployed in the Middle East," Sam corrected, not looking up from the camera.

"Oh," Ron said shortly. "Didn't she say she had invited somebody else, though? Boyfriend or somebody?"

Sam stifled a laugh and quickly shook his head.

"No, no, no. I think she actually asked if Ironhide would show up."

"Ironhide?" Judy repeated, sounding surprised and a little taken aback by the idea. "You mean that grouchy Autobot?"

"Er, yeah," Sam answered, looking around quickly. Last thing he needed was for Ironhide to hear his mother call the Autobot 'grouchy.' "He and Sophie kind of fell out of touch there for her last semester, but she still asked. But he couldn't make it either. Autobot stuff, you know?"

"Poor Sophie," Judy said. "Nobody came to her graduation?"

"Well, you guys did," Sam replied. He glanced over and saw Sophie sitting on the edge of the fountain in the main courtyard of the college campus. "Hey! Sophie!"

Hearing her name, Sophie looked up and finally spotted Sam in the crowd of people. She jogged over to where he was, having to hold onto her graduation cap to keep it from falling off.

"What's up?" she asked, forcing a smile.

"Congratulations, sweetie!" Judy cried, throwing her arms in a hug around Sophie.

Sophie made a small 'oof' sound and looked at Sam with wide eyes before tentatively returning the hug.

"Thank you, Mrs. Witwicky," she said.

"You looked so pretty up there!" Judy continued, still hugging Sophie tightly.

"Thank you, Mrs. Witwicky."

"Judy," Ron said, tapping on his wife's shoulder. "Judy, the poor woman can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry," Judy laughed, releasing Sophie and stepping back. She quickly brushed a few stray locks of Sophie's bleach blonde hair from Sophie's face. "Well! Ron and I are very proud of you. Aren't we, Ron?" Judy gave her husband a pointed look.

"Yeah, yeah," Ron agreed, nodding quickly. "Congratulations. Good job, kid."

"Thank you, sir," Sophie replied. She then peeked over Sam's shoulder. "What're we looking at?"

"My mom took, uh…a lot of pictures. Like…a lot of pictures of us up there on the stage."

"Whoa…no kidding," Sophie said, watching as Sam clicked through the photos on the digital camera. "We could make a little animated gif thingee of you walking across the stage there."

"Yeah, I know," Sam murmured, starting to cycle through the pictures a little faster. "She gets a little camera-crazy when it comes to stuff like thi-" Sam stopped short when a picture of him and Mikaela popped up on the screen.

Sophie winced and looked up at Sam, looking over his expression.

"She didn't show up?" Sophie asked slowly.

"No, said she had to help her dad," Sam replied quietly.

"Sorry…"

"Yeah, me too. I want to call her, but I'm not sure what to say. She was pretty pissed at me the last time we spoke."

"Well, maybe she just needs some time to cool off."

"That was a week ago," Sam answered despondently.

"…PMS?" Sophie offered.

"Yeah, maybe," Sam laughed quietly. "Hey, um…my parents are taking me out to dinner and said you could come along, if you wanted."

"Where are you going?"

"Uh, it's that new Japanese place, think it has 'kimono' in the name or something like that."

"Oooh," Sophie said. "I've heard they've got sushi that's to die for."

"You can keep your raw fish," Sam commented. "But I heard some of their rice dishes are pretty good, too."

"Pansy."

()

"Oh, oh! Sammy! Sammy! Look up!"

Looking up from the steaming bowl of soup and noodles, Sam was greeted with the blinding flash of a camera. Blinking quickly to try and rid his vision of the red and white dots, Sam sighed slightly.

"Mom, we're at dinner. Graduation is over. I don't think you need to take any more pictures."

"But you're growing up," Judy protested quietly. "I want to get as many pictures as I can."

"Honey, let the boy at least eat in peace," Ron advised.

"Okay, okay," Judy said, putting the camera away. "Sophie, how's the sushi?"

Looking up, Sophie had to simply nod. She'd already crammed a full piece of sushi into her mouth, so speaking was out of the question. Judy laughed and nodded.

"Glad to hear it."

"You know you can get salmonella from stuff like that," Sam commented, pointing at the plate of sushi.

"Oh, Sammy, stop it," Judy chided.

"No, seriously, it's raw fish. She could get salmonella or something," Sam argued.

Sophie swallowed her food and then looked at Sam with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep, I mean, we hear about how the entire country of Japan is on the border of being depopulated due to one of their most popular food dishes," she stated sarcastically. "They-"

"Oh, look, look!" Judy interjected, quickly pointing at the in-restaurant television. "Isn't that Optimus?"

Both Sophie and Sam quickly turned in their seats to look at the television screen. Sure enough, Optimus Prime in vehicle mode, or rather, shaky cell phone camera footage of him barreling down towards a Decepticon was on the television screen.

"Yeah, that's him," Sam replied quietly, looking around the restaurant quickly. All eyes were glued to the television screen, but already Sam could hear murmurs of discontent.

"What's Big Boss doing, though?" Sophie asked, watching as the footage played through. Optimus clipped the Decepticon, causing the metal monstrosity to spin. "He missed him…"

Suddenly the footage shuddered and a very familiar black, Topkick pickup roared past and slammed directly into the Decepticon. Sophie winced and gripped the back of the chair a little tighter as she saw a spray of sparks and what she could only guess was mech fluid from both Ironhide and the Decepticon.

"Ouch," Judy commented, frowning. "I'll bet that hurt."

Sam glanced at his mother quickly and made a quick throat cutting gesture, trying to urge her to be quiet. Judy looked confused, but made an 'oh' noise when Sam pointed quickly at Sophie, who was still watching the television screen with rapt interest.

Again the footage jarred roughly, and for a few minutes, it was nothing but the ground as the person filming the fight was most likely running for their life. When it did focus back on the combat, both Optimus Prime and Ironhide had transformed and were making short work of the Decepticon. The footage suddenly cut away to a news reporter behind a desk, who began commenting on the alien battles that had been brought to Earth, and Sophie looked at the timestamp for the footage. The fight had taken place about the same time of the graduation ceremony. Well, that explained that. Blinking quickly, Sophie turned back in her seat and stared at her food. Sam frowned and poked her arm lightly.

"I'm sure he's fine," Sam said.

"I know. Just…damn. He crashed right into that Decepticon."

"Yeah, well…that's Ironhide for you."

"I know."

"Hurry up and eat your raw fish and get salmonella already," Sam said, pushing the plate closer towards Sophie.

Laughing weakly, Sophie picked up a piece of the sushi and popped it in her mouth, regardless of the fact that her appetite was long gone.

()

Sam's parents dropped Sophie off at the dormitory room. She had managed to beg and plead her way into staying an extra day so that she could get all of her stuff packed up and shipped out, but at the moment, she felt utterly drained. Sophie hadn't really expected Ironhide to show up, but after none of her family had shown up, his absence just seemed to rub salt in the wound. Grumbling and kicking the side of the dormitory building as she made her way to the hallway, Sophie mentally scolded herself for being so selfish. The fate of the world couldn't be put on hold for some crummy graduation with a bunch of stuffy, spoiled college kids and their parents.

As she turned to start heading down the hallway, a loud vehicle honk made her start slightly. Rolling her eyes, Sophie grumbled about last minute frat parties before starting to walk down the hallway. The vehicle horn sounded again, and this time it was accompanied by a loud engine roar. Stopping in the middle of the hallway, Sophie stormed back out of the hallway, ready to break somebody's nose. She froze when she saw Ironhide sitting in the parking lot, lights flicking quickly.

Sprinting across the lawn, Sophie leapt over the sidewalk and stopped just short of running into Ironhide's bumper. She lightly set her hands on the hood, flinching at the sight of a rather vicious set of dents and scrapes.

The driver's side door swung open and Ironhide revved the engine once more, and Sophie quickly darted over and climbed in. She bounced up and down excitedly for a few minutes, trying to figure out whether or not she would be overstepping her boundaries if she hugged the steering wheel.

"Congratulations," Ironhide commented, his voice crackling in over the radio.

"You made it!" Sophie squeaked. Ducking her head, Sophie cleared her throat and tried to regain her composure. "I mean, yeah, thank you. It was cool to get a diploma and all."

"My apologies for not making it on time."

"I saw you and Big Boss fighting that Decepticon on the television. You were busy. It was cool."

"Am I to assume that your parents are going to be understanding of you suddenly driving off?" Ironhide asked quickly.

"They couldn't make it," Sophie answered quietly.

"I see. What of your brothers?"

"They were busy."

Ironhide was silent and slowly pulled out of the parking lot. Setting her hands on the steering wheel, Sophie leaned forward, trying to look up at the night sky through the windshield.

"Hey, 'Hide, where're we going?"

"Someplace a little less crowded and where I don't have to worry about some pesky human with another portable video recorder."

"Hate to break it to you, but pretty much everybody has one these days," Sophie snickered.

"I've noticed."

"You okay? You hit that Decepticon pretty hard."

"Nothing I haven't done before."

"Sheesh…hope you have good health insurance. Or is it motor insurance?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Oh, you've got Ratchet, huh?"

"What in the Pit are you talking about?" Ironhide grumbled.

"When you go playing bumper cars from Hell with a Decepticon, somebody's gotta patch you up, yeah?"

"Yes, and Ratchet is typically the one that does that."

"See? That's what I was asking."

"That was nowhere near what you were inquiring about," Ironhide retorted in irritation.

"It was, too!" Sophie protested crossing her arms. "You men just don't listen."

"I can say the same for you femmes. _Steering. Wheel._"

"Oops."

Sophie quickly grasped the steering wheel, glancing around to see if the nearby traffic had noticed. Judging by the fact that the closest vehicle's occupant was too busy trying to eat a hamburger, Sophie guessed she was safe for the time being. Ironhide suddenly turned and began driving down a dirt road, and Sophie glanced out of the back windshield. They were fairly far away from the city at this point, and she could see some of the brighter stars in the night sky. She then grinned and leaned towards the dashboard.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

"If you start that, you will walk."

"You'd leave me out here?"

"No. I would just make you walk while I followed."

Resisting the urge to cross her arms, Sophie sulked in silence, but perked up when she saw the lake that, during the day, was typically filled with throngs of people. Now, though, it was fairly deserted, with only a couple of campfires glinting off in the distance.

Ironhide turned off the road and slowed to a stop. The driver's door opened and Sophie wordlessly climbed out. Turning around, she jumped back slightly as Ironhide transformed to his robot mode, once again feeling like a hamster let loose in a crowded high school classroom. Fully transformed, Ironhide looked down at Sophie, then up at the night sky.

"Not a bad view," he commented.

"It's a really good view, actually," Sophie said, craning her neck so she could look almost straight up. "Is this what the sky looked like on your planet?"

"Somewhat," Ironhide answered, still scanning the skies. "However, the stars were far brighter, and we couldn't see the constellations that are visible from Earth."

"Whoa. You must live really, really far away."

"We did…"

Turning back to Ironhide, Sophie took a small step towards him.

"You sure you're okay? I mean, I'm tickled to death that you showed up, and thank you so much for that, but…you didn't skip a doctor's appointment or something, did you?"

"No," Ironhide replied, looking back down at Sophie. "Ratchet repaired the majority of the injuries and the rest will heal on their own."

"You guys having a healing system?"

"More like a self-repair system, but yes."

"Cool," Sophie murmured, looking over Ironhide quickly. "Just making sure you're okay, old man. We'd be screwed without you. We'd have Decepticons running around all over the place. Holding up banks, knocking little old grannies down stairs, stealing candy from babies, it'd be chaos!" Sophie flailed her arms slightly to emphasize her point.

It took Ironhide a couple seconds to realize that Sophie was making a joke, but he chuckled nonetheless and nodded.

"That it would."

"Hey, 'Hide?"

"Yes?"

"Anyway I could convince you to maybe let me have a better view from a better vantage point?"

In response, Ironhide carefully picked Sophie up and set her on his shoulder. Grinning, Sophie scrabbled to a comfortable spot to sit before looking up at the sky.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"You're welcome."

Ironhide fell silent, mulling over a few thoughts. He hadn't expected Sophie's parents to be absent from her graduation. Sam's parents had been downright adamant about being present, according to Bumblebee. And Sophie had spoken highly of her parents, or foster parents, to be more precise, so their absence seemed a bit out of place.

"Sophie, do you know the reason that your parents were unable to attend?"

"My dad's a CEO for this big advertising company, and my mother's a lead manager at this super popular clothing shop. Neither of them could really get free to be here. But they sent loads of texts, emails, cards, and video messages."

"Your parents sound…successful in accordance with human culture."

"They are. So are my brothers. All three of them are super successful in what they do." Sophie sighed and slouched slightly, combing her hair back with her hands. "And I'm a recovering drug addict screw up."

"You have a degree now, correct? Does that not indicate a considerable level of success?"

"Well, yeah. But now I have to actually do something with that degree. You know, go out and get a super cool job so I can have the super sleek car and the super modern house and pay all my super, big ass bills."

"If you pursue this exalted job with half the enthusiasm that you pursue coffee, you should end up leader of your entire species within about two years," Ironhide retorted.

Sophie laughed and rocked back and forth slightly.

"Yeah, maybe," she agreed. "That'd be cool, though! Queen Sophie! Ruler of Earth!"

Ironhide shuddered slightly.

"Hey!" Sophie cried. "What? You don't think I'd be a good leader?"

"You may need a bit of practice."

"Fine. I'll get my Master's in being a good Queen."

"Sounds like a good course of action."

Sophie sat in silence for a few minutes, gazing up at the stars. Finally, she looked over at Ironhide.

"Hey, 'Hide?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for being here," Sophie whispered, leaning against Ironhide's shoulder armor lightly.

"You're welcome."

Looking back up at the night sky, Sophie watched the stars glimmer against the dark blue backdrop. She then lightly patted Ironhide on the shoulder.

"So tell me more about this self-repair system," she said, sounding rather excited about the concept. "Do your circuits actually rebuild themselves? Does welding work on you? Do you guys have some form of antibiotics or something like that to help speed up the repair process?"

"Yes, the self-repair system will rebuild damaged and sometimes missing components," Ironhide explained, trying to keep up with Sophie's rapid-fire questions. "However, it is similar to how your organic body works, if I understood Ratchet correctly. There is only so much damage that our self-repair system can repair on its own before we run the risk of going into stasis lock...or worse."

"Stasis lock? Is that like a coma? And you guys can take a lot more abuse than a human body, right?"

"Somewhat. It is also used to keep us alive, although in a low power state, when we sustain critical damage. And yes, but it is simply due to the differences in our makeup. Humans more organic bodies are, understandably, not going to be as strong as metal."

"Do you guys have anything like scar tissue?" Sophie asked, peeking around Ironhide's shoulder quickly.

"In a manner of the term, yes. And would you please stop scuttling around so much?"

"Why? Am I hurt-" Sophie suddenly slipped from Ironhide's shoulder, tried to grab a handhold, missed and shrieked as she plummeted down.

Fortunately, Ironhide reacted quickly and caught Sophie, and even though he appeared calm and methodical about the motion, the shuddering sigh he emanated indicated otherwise.

"That's why," he muttered, looking down at Sophie. "Are you all right?"

Clinging to Ironhide's hand tightly, Sophie blinked and looked around slowly. She then nodded and looked up at Ironhide apologetically.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"There is no need to apologize," Ironhide replied.

"Thanks for catching me, though."

"There wasn't exactly an alternative," Ironhide answered with a faint smirk.

After a long pause, Sophie reached up slightly, looking up at Ironhide.

"So...that doesn't hurt?"

Cautiously lifting Sophie up, Ironhide lowered his head slightly, his optics closing as Sophie's hand lightly ran over the deep scar over his right optic. After a few moments, his optics opened, flickering momentarily as they drew back into focus. Sophie was now standing up, but lowered her hand slowly.

"No, it does not hurt," Ironhide replied softly.

Staring up at Ironhide in quiet awe, Sophie quickly ducked her head and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Sorry, you've got to be sick and tired of me staring at you all the time, huh?" she murmured.

"Not really," Ironhide answered. "Your curiosity...is admirable. Albeit a bit suicidal at times."

Laughing quietly, Sophie kept her balance as Ironhide carefully set her back on his shoulder.

"Try to be more careful this time," he murmured.

"Yeah, sorry old man. My bad." Sophie sat down on Ironhide's shoulder and leaned against the shoulder armor, sighing. "Still...thank you for showing up."

"You are welcome. You should strongly consider using more caution, however. Particularly since you are going to have far greater goals you are going to need to focus on," Ironhide advised. "And you also should consider the fact that...Sophie?"

Sophie snored quietly, and shifted slightly, but remained asleep. Sighing and shaking his head in mild exasperation, Ironhide turned his gaze back up to the stars.


	27. Chapter 27

Months later, Sophie slowly climbed the stairwell to her third story, studio apartment. Sighing and unlocking the door, she staggered in, stumbled to the mattress she had on the floor against the far wall, and fell face-first into her pillow. It had been another seemingly futile day of job searching, and she was starting to worry. Her savings were looking scrawny and if she was going to make rent this month, it was going to be another dinner of Ramen and water.

Apparently potential employers weren't very keen on the idea of hiring somebody that had hits from the FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security on their record. If they were grateful for Sophie's assistance in saving the world, it certainly didn't show.

Grumbling into her pillow and kicking her feet angrily, Sophie tried to think of places that wouldn't necessarily be too hung up on a background check. Well, places that wouldn't be hung up on a background check and that weren't a hazard to Sophie's health. Rolling over onto her back, Sophie stared up at the cream colored ceiling, frowning. To top it all off, she hadn't heard a peep from Ironhide. Yeah, she was sure he was busy, but...still…

It couldn't be that hard to fire off an email, could it?

Or was it?

What if something had happened?

Sure, Ironhide was one of the toughest Autobots there was, but...something could have happened. Hell, she'd seen the coverage about the twins getting killed, and it'd been brutal. There was something about seeing something that powerful getting ripped to pieces of scrap metal. Even if it had been the twins, arguably amongst the smallest of the Autobots, it hadn't meant they were pushovers to Sophie.

The idea of something like that happening to Ironhide made Sophie feel sick to her stomach, and she sat up slowly. And to make things worse, footage of any sort of Autobot or Decepticon had been progressively censored and pulled from the air. Even YouTube videos were disappearing at a surprising rate. And with all of her job searching, Sophie had been struggling to keep up with the occasionally leaked information about the Autobots.

Gods...what if she was getting mad at Ironhide and he was in that...stasis lock because some Decepticon got a lucky shot?

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Sophie grumbled, combing back her hair. While she had maintained the bleach blonde for a while, Sophie had eventually given in and gotten a slightly less platinum blonde color. More like a light ash blonde. Like hell she was going to walk around with her ridiculous, mousey brown hair.

Opening the fridge, Sophie made a grimace at first the stench and then the sight of old Chinese food that was probably more mold than food by this point, a gallon of milk that was barely an eighth full, three sticks of butter, two slices left of a loaf of bread, and two yogurt cups that Sophie was steadfastly holding on to for when times were desperate.

And by desperate, Sophie could only imagine that indicated that she was so broke she could no longer order food, her pride was forbidding her from calling her parents, and starvation was starting to take its toll and cause her to lock herself in the apartment and not leave.

Closing the door and fishing her phone out of her pocket, Sophie looked down at the screen. Of course, there was nothing. Grumbling, Sophie bounced the phone in her hand indecisively. As far as food for tonight went, Sophie had an open invitation to a party. While she wasn't good enough to hire, she was good enough to invite out. Hell, at the very least, maybe Sophie could snag a meal, leftovers, and possibly a new job lead.

After bouncing the phone in her hand for a few more minutes, Sophie opened the email application and began to rapid fire an email to the email account that she had set up for Ironhide...and then promptly deleted a good portion of it. And tried again. And deleted again. And then tried again. How many emails had she sent to him by this point? Three? No...four. This would make five.

Making a low grumble as she typed faster before her better judgment could get to her and she deleted this email, Sophie mentioned the party, the poor job search, and then finished up about there only being two yogurt cups. Hitting the 'Send' button with a sense of conviction, Sophie stared at the phone for a few minutes before realizing she had just told an alien robot, friend or not, the equivalent of a FaceBook status update.

"I am drinking tonight," Sophie grumbled, tossing the phone back onto the mattress. "Not like I haven't made enough of a fool of myself."

()

The bass of the music was loud enough to cause the shot glasses on the main banquet table to rattle loudly, but as far as Sophie was concerned, so long as her internal organs stayed put, she would be fine. That and along with what food she hadn't eaten. While she'd lost track of how many drinks she had had by this point, Sophie was pretty sure that she had run her mouth enough to screw herself out of a job opportunity or two.

"Sophie!"

An arm suddenly wrapped roughly around Sophie's shoulder, knocking her off balance and causing her to spill a bit of the mixed drink in the plastic red cup. It was Tim. Tall, lanky, dark-haired hiring manager of a local computer repair shop. The guy that had declined to give her the job, but was more than happy to invite her to the party.

"Hey…!" Sophie cried, stumbling to keep her balance and to keep more of the drink from ending up on the floor. "Tim! Drink! Please!"

"Relax," Tim laughed. Judging by his stance, breath, and apparent lack of personal space, he was just as drunk as Sophie...if not more so. "Trust me, honey, there's plenty to go around!"

"Unlike job opportunities in your company?" Sophie muttered, taking a long swig of her drink and grimacing at the taste. Somebody had been a big heavy-handed with the vodka.

"Here! I'll get you another since it was so rude of me to almost knock it out of your hands," Tim declared loudly, almost hugging Sophie as he snagged the cup out of her hand.

"I'm still...drinking…fuck it," Sophie grumbled. She looked around and walked slowly to the stack of pizza boxes at the other end of the table. Blinking at the stack of food before whispering a quiet 'thank you', Sophie snatched a slice of what appeared to be mostly vegetables and gnawed at it hungrily. And she was far too engrossed in the pizza to notice that she was being watched.

Yet again it seemed this holographic form was being useful, and this time Ironhide wasn't entirely sure he was happy about that fact. Granted, he doubted he would have been able to get into this building otherwise, but by Primus there were a lot of people here. And loud ones, too. Very loud ones. Though the copious amounts of alcohol may have been partly to blame for that fact.

And then there had been that human male. Whether or not he noticed Sophie's grimace of being unpleasantly close to somebody, Ironhide had. And it had immediately put him on edge. All humans reacted differently to alcohol, save for a few facts. One being that it lowered practically every inhibition they had.

So Ironhide had, with some reluctance, turned his focus from Sophie to the tall human male. Taking a few strides, Ironhide carefully maneuvered through the crowd, casting one quick glance back to Sophie. By the Pit she was drinking another shot. This made six in total and Ironhide could only imagine the current state of her mental capacities. If there were any even left.

Though she had eaten some food by this point and-and what in the name of Primus was that human doing with the drink?

The maneuver itself would have been far more discreet if the human hadn't been so inebriated he'd struggled with the damn bottle. Ironhide watched as the human male proceeded to pour more of what he could only guess was alcohol than anything, then grin and walk back over to Sophie.

While he may have been completely ignorant of human party etiquette, Ironhide was fairly certain that was far more alcohol than Sophie was capable of handling at this point. His focus snapping back to her, Ironhide felt a momentary stab of panic when he saw Sophie lazily lounging in a cushioned chair. What was she thinking? Slag it, was she thinking?!

Stepping through the crowd, struggling to get to Sophie first and not bump into too many people, Ironhide grumbled under his breath. He was going to have a talk with Sophie after she sobered up. Rescuing her from Decepticons was fine, rescuing her from her own foolishness...not so much. Especially since Ironhide had a much better chance of guessing what a Decepticon would do.

Frowning and pushing past to Sophie, trying to ignore the feedback, Ironhide stepped between her and the human male. He wasn't sure what look he had on his face, but if it was anything like he felt, it only made sense that the human stopped in his tracks.

"I will take that," Ironhide growled, slowly taking the cup from the man's hand. He glanced over at Sophie, who seemed to be, for the moment, far too engrossed with the slice of pizza to even notice what was going on.

"And who are you?" the man demanded in a tone far too angry for Ironhide's liking.

"A friend," Ironhide replied, stepping closer. "One who has been keeping an eye on her and who will continue to keep an eye on her. Your concern is noted."

There was a stretch of silence and the man slowly backed away, though Ironhide refused to take his eye off him until he was certain the human male had wandered off. Quickly setting the cup aside, Ironhide turned to Sophie, who was staring up at the ceiling and giggling.

Sighing heavily, Ironhide leaned over and set a hand behind Sophie's head carefully. The action was enough to startle Sophie, and she grabbed Ironhide's arm. Slag...even the feedback from her touch was different.

But there was that definite tingle of feedback, and for as much as she'd drank, Ironhide saw realization slowly dawn on her face and she looked up at him quickly. Sighing, Ironhide gave Sophie a mildly exasperated look...but was quickly cut off when she threw her arms around his neck. Making a low grunt, Ironhide froze. He shouldn't have been surprised, but even so...

"You're still alive!" she cried, her voice muffled.

"I beg your pardon?" Ironhide murmured.

"I thought something bad had happened to you!" Sophie yelled.

Wincing and lightly returning the gesture, Ironhide moved slightly so he could whisper in Sophie's ear.

"We need to leave," Ironhide stated firmly. "Right now."

"What? Why?" Sophie slurred.

"I told you I would keep you safe from Decepticons and that is what I am doing," Ironhide whispered. They had to be running out of time at this rate. He had managed to drive off the Decepticon initially, but there was no telling how long that would last.

"Shit," Sophie muttered. "I can't even...goddamn...'Hide...I can't even walk straight. Much less run...straight."

"I know," Ironhide said, carefully lifting Sophie to her feet. "Which is why you're going to lean on me, but I need you to act as casually as possible."

Giggling and at least trying to play up the part of drunken idiot, Sophie stumbled and leaned against Ironhide. He caught her, keeping one arm wrapped around her as he worked his way through the crowd. Looking around lazily, Sophie spotted somebody who was watching them a little...too closely.

A tall, ebony-haired man with a white streak on both sides of his hair watched them with dark-circled, red eyes. Red...eyes. His gaze locking with Sophie's, a twisted grin slowly snaked across his features.

"...'Hide," Sophie whispered hoarsely, gripping at his side.

"I know. Keep walking. Did he see you?"

"He grinned at me, 'Hide!" Sophie rasped in panic. "Who is that?"

"...Barricade," Ironhide answered tersely. He had been hoping to get Sophie out of there without drawing attention to either of them. "I told you to act casual!"

"I was," Sophie protested quietly as they neared the door. "And I still can barely see straight, so-"

"And whose fault is that?" Ironhide interrupted as he finally managed to guide Sophie out of the door and onto the water-sprinkled lawn. "I certainly don't recall advising you to drink yourself blind!"

"Hey!" Sophie yelled, suddenly shoving herself away from Ironhide, stumbling but managing to maintain her balance. "You stupid car! You disappeared! For all I knew, you fell off the face of the goddamn Earth!"

Wincing slightly when Sophie called him a 'car', Ironhide glanced around the area quickly. There were only a few people watching, but he could see them motioning for others to come watch. Snapping his attention back to Sophie, Ironhide glared at her sternly.

"We can argue about this later! Right now-"

"Right now I want to know why the hell you let me think you were's-were…," for a moment, the alcohol blanked out Sophie's vocabulary, but she managed to recall it fairly quickly, "...was dead! You disappeared, Hide! And another thing, since when the hell have yous gotten a paint job?! You think that-"

"Sophie!" Ironhide hissed, an almost pleading look crossing his features. Now people were definitely watching, and while most of them may have been drunk enough to just think this a small-scale argument, Ironhide couldn't take that risk. Even worse, he could see Barricade, the actual Decepticon Barricade, not the holographic projection, slowly beginning to pull forward along the driveway that looped around in front of the house

"Stop interrupting me!" Sophie yelled, stepping forward and shoving Ironhide back.

The sudden force struck Sophie with a considerable amount of feedback, which shot up her arms and knocked her squarely onto her back. Tensing only for a moment, Ironhide quickly knelt down and half-helped, half-dragged Sophie to her feet.

"We're leaving," Ironhide ordered. "Now."

This time, Sophie didn't protest, but Ironhide could only guess it was because her thoughts were still swimming in a mix of alcohol and holographic feedback. He began helping her back to where his true self, in vehicle mode, was waiting…

...and that's when he heard a familiar engine scream. Barricade suddenly came tearing down the driveway, straight at the two.

"Ironhide!" Sophie screamed, trying to weakly backpedal.

Grimacing as he knew what he was about to do next would hurt like the Pit, Ironhide kept his holographic form holding Sophie steady...and barreled straight towards Barricade. Sophie gasped and tried to stagger to a standing position, but shrieked and fell back as Ironhide and Barricaded collided, a horrible cracking and shrieking noise as metal bent, buckled, and tore.

Ironhide's engine roared as his struggled to keep traction on the gravel covered ground. If he could just...keep...steady enough.

"Get in!" Ironhide's holographic form ordered, urging Sophie towards the open driver's door. "Get in!"

Again, Sophie did not protest, and she hesitated only for a moment, glancing worriedly as Barricade began to rev his engine in preparation for charging again.

"Sophie!" Ironhide's voice cried from the speakers. This time, there was a definite pleading tone in his voice.

Scrambling in, Sophie clung to the armrest and seat belt tightly just as Ironhide reversed sharply. Sophie's lurched forward, her head thudding against the steering wheel. Just as quickly, Ironhide whipped around and began tearing down the driveway. Barricade crashed against the rear, left side of Ironhide, but the Autobot managed to pull away. Frantically buckling herself in as she fell back against the driver's seat, Sophie looked up at the rear view mirror.

"Go, Hide, go!" she cried, her pulse thudding in her aching, spinning head. "He's getting closer!"


End file.
